Christmas Bible Study
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Transcript of Christmas Bible Study
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 174
Good Newsof Great JoyDaily Readings for Advent
John Piper
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 274
copy 2013 Desiring God
Published by Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901
Minneapolis MN 55402wwwdesiringGodorg
Permissions
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this
material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in
any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction
For web posting a link to this document on our website is required
Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy
copy Desiring God Website desiringGodorg
Cover design and typesetting
Taylor Design Works
All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the
author or editor
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
i Preface
iv Introduction
What Does Jesus Want Tis Christmas
01 December 1 Luke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
Prepare the Way
03 December 2 Luke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
Maryrsquos Magnificent God
05 December 3 Luke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Te Long-Awaited Visitation
07 December 4 Luke 983090983089ndash983093
For Godrsquos Little People
09 December 5 Luke 983090983094ndash983095
No Detour rom Calvary
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11 December 6 Luke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace to Tose with Whom Hersquos Pleased
13 December 7 Matthew 983090983089ndash983090
Messiah or the Magi
15 December 8 Matthew 983090983090
Bethlehemrsquos Supernatural Star
18 December 9 Matthew 983090983091
wo Kinds o Opposition to Jesus
20 December 10 Matthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
Gold Frankincense and Myrrh
22 December 11 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Why Jesus Came
25 December 12 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Replacing the Shadows
27 December 13 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te Final Reality Is Here
29 December 14 Hebrews 983096983094 Making It Real or His People
31 December 15 John 983089983088983089983088
Lie and Death at Christmas
33 December 16 Philippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Most Successul Setback
35 December 17 Jeremiah 983091983089983091983089
Te Greatest Salvation Imaginable
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37 December 18 John 983089983095983089983096
Te Christmas Model or Missions
39 December 19 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Christmas Is or Freedom
41 December 20 983089 John 983091983096
Christmas Solidarity
43 December 21 John 983089983096983091983095
Te Birth o the Ancient o Days
45 December 22 John 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
Tat You May Believe
47 December 23 Romans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Indescribable Gif
49 December 24 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Te Son o God Appeared
51 December 25 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Tree Christmas Presents
54 Conclusion My Favorite Christmas ext
58 Appendix
Old estament Shadows and
the Coming o Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventi
PREFACE
Advent is or adoring Jesus At least thatrsquos our angle on it
at Desiring GodAdvent is an annual season o patient waiting hope-
ul expectation soul-searching and calendar-watching
marked by many churches Christian amilies and indi-
vidual ollowers o Jesus Terersquos no biblical mandate to
observe Advent Itrsquos an optional thingmdasha tradition that
developed over the course o the churchrsquos history as atime o preparation or Christmas Day Many o us find
observing Advent to be personally enjoyable and spiritu-
ally profitable
Te English word ldquoAdventrdquo is rom the Latin adven-
tus which means ldquocomingrdquo Te advent primarily in view
each December is the first coming o Jesus two millenniaago But Jesusrsquos second coming gets drawn in as well as the
popular Christmas carol ldquoJoy to the Worldrdquo makes plain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
December 7
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
December 9
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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copy 2013 Desiring God
Published by Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901
Minneapolis MN 55402wwwdesiringGodorg
Permissions
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this
material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in
any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction
For web posting a link to this document on our website is required
Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy
copy Desiring God Website desiringGodorg
Cover design and typesetting
Taylor Design Works
All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the
author or editor
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
i Preface
iv Introduction
What Does Jesus Want Tis Christmas
01 December 1 Luke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
Prepare the Way
03 December 2 Luke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
Maryrsquos Magnificent God
05 December 3 Luke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Te Long-Awaited Visitation
07 December 4 Luke 983090983089ndash983093
For Godrsquos Little People
09 December 5 Luke 983090983094ndash983095
No Detour rom Calvary
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11 December 6 Luke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace to Tose with Whom Hersquos Pleased
13 December 7 Matthew 983090983089ndash983090
Messiah or the Magi
15 December 8 Matthew 983090983090
Bethlehemrsquos Supernatural Star
18 December 9 Matthew 983090983091
wo Kinds o Opposition to Jesus
20 December 10 Matthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
Gold Frankincense and Myrrh
22 December 11 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Why Jesus Came
25 December 12 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Replacing the Shadows
27 December 13 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te Final Reality Is Here
29 December 14 Hebrews 983096983094 Making It Real or His People
31 December 15 John 983089983088983089983088
Lie and Death at Christmas
33 December 16 Philippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Most Successul Setback
35 December 17 Jeremiah 983091983089983091983089
Te Greatest Salvation Imaginable
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37 December 18 John 983089983095983089983096
Te Christmas Model or Missions
39 December 19 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Christmas Is or Freedom
41 December 20 983089 John 983091983096
Christmas Solidarity
43 December 21 John 983089983096983091983095
Te Birth o the Ancient o Days
45 December 22 John 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
Tat You May Believe
47 December 23 Romans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Indescribable Gif
49 December 24 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Te Son o God Appeared
51 December 25 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Tree Christmas Presents
54 Conclusion My Favorite Christmas ext
58 Appendix
Old estament Shadows and
the Coming o Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventi
PREFACE
Advent is or adoring Jesus At least thatrsquos our angle on it
at Desiring GodAdvent is an annual season o patient waiting hope-
ul expectation soul-searching and calendar-watching
marked by many churches Christian amilies and indi-
vidual ollowers o Jesus Terersquos no biblical mandate to
observe Advent Itrsquos an optional thingmdasha tradition that
developed over the course o the churchrsquos history as atime o preparation or Christmas Day Many o us find
observing Advent to be personally enjoyable and spiritu-
ally profitable
Te English word ldquoAdventrdquo is rom the Latin adven-
tus which means ldquocomingrdquo Te advent primarily in view
each December is the first coming o Jesus two millenniaago But Jesusrsquos second coming gets drawn in as well as the
popular Christmas carol ldquoJoy to the Worldrdquo makes plain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
i Preface
iv Introduction
What Does Jesus Want Tis Christmas
01 December 1 Luke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
Prepare the Way
03 December 2 Luke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
Maryrsquos Magnificent God
05 December 3 Luke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Te Long-Awaited Visitation
07 December 4 Luke 983090983089ndash983093
For Godrsquos Little People
09 December 5 Luke 983090983094ndash983095
No Detour rom Calvary
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11 December 6 Luke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace to Tose with Whom Hersquos Pleased
13 December 7 Matthew 983090983089ndash983090
Messiah or the Magi
15 December 8 Matthew 983090983090
Bethlehemrsquos Supernatural Star
18 December 9 Matthew 983090983091
wo Kinds o Opposition to Jesus
20 December 10 Matthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
Gold Frankincense and Myrrh
22 December 11 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Why Jesus Came
25 December 12 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Replacing the Shadows
27 December 13 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te Final Reality Is Here
29 December 14 Hebrews 983096983094 Making It Real or His People
31 December 15 John 983089983088983089983088
Lie and Death at Christmas
33 December 16 Philippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Most Successul Setback
35 December 17 Jeremiah 983091983089983091983089
Te Greatest Salvation Imaginable
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37 December 18 John 983089983095983089983096
Te Christmas Model or Missions
39 December 19 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Christmas Is or Freedom
41 December 20 983089 John 983091983096
Christmas Solidarity
43 December 21 John 983089983096983091983095
Te Birth o the Ancient o Days
45 December 22 John 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
Tat You May Believe
47 December 23 Romans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Indescribable Gif
49 December 24 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Te Son o God Appeared
51 December 25 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Tree Christmas Presents
54 Conclusion My Favorite Christmas ext
58 Appendix
Old estament Shadows and
the Coming o Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventi
PREFACE
Advent is or adoring Jesus At least thatrsquos our angle on it
at Desiring GodAdvent is an annual season o patient waiting hope-
ul expectation soul-searching and calendar-watching
marked by many churches Christian amilies and indi-
vidual ollowers o Jesus Terersquos no biblical mandate to
observe Advent Itrsquos an optional thingmdasha tradition that
developed over the course o the churchrsquos history as atime o preparation or Christmas Day Many o us find
observing Advent to be personally enjoyable and spiritu-
ally profitable
Te English word ldquoAdventrdquo is rom the Latin adven-
tus which means ldquocomingrdquo Te advent primarily in view
each December is the first coming o Jesus two millenniaago But Jesusrsquos second coming gets drawn in as well as the
popular Christmas carol ldquoJoy to the Worldrdquo makes plain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
December 7
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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11 December 6 Luke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace to Tose with Whom Hersquos Pleased
13 December 7 Matthew 983090983089ndash983090
Messiah or the Magi
15 December 8 Matthew 983090983090
Bethlehemrsquos Supernatural Star
18 December 9 Matthew 983090983091
wo Kinds o Opposition to Jesus
20 December 10 Matthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
Gold Frankincense and Myrrh
22 December 11 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Why Jesus Came
25 December 12 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Replacing the Shadows
27 December 13 Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te Final Reality Is Here
29 December 14 Hebrews 983096983094 Making It Real or His People
31 December 15 John 983089983088983089983088
Lie and Death at Christmas
33 December 16 Philippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Most Successul Setback
35 December 17 Jeremiah 983091983089983091983089
Te Greatest Salvation Imaginable
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37 December 18 John 983089983095983089983096
Te Christmas Model or Missions
39 December 19 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Christmas Is or Freedom
41 December 20 983089 John 983091983096
Christmas Solidarity
43 December 21 John 983089983096983091983095
Te Birth o the Ancient o Days
45 December 22 John 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
Tat You May Believe
47 December 23 Romans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Indescribable Gif
49 December 24 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Te Son o God Appeared
51 December 25 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Tree Christmas Presents
54 Conclusion My Favorite Christmas ext
58 Appendix
Old estament Shadows and
the Coming o Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventi
PREFACE
Advent is or adoring Jesus At least thatrsquos our angle on it
at Desiring GodAdvent is an annual season o patient waiting hope-
ul expectation soul-searching and calendar-watching
marked by many churches Christian amilies and indi-
vidual ollowers o Jesus Terersquos no biblical mandate to
observe Advent Itrsquos an optional thingmdasha tradition that
developed over the course o the churchrsquos history as atime o preparation or Christmas Day Many o us find
observing Advent to be personally enjoyable and spiritu-
ally profitable
Te English word ldquoAdventrdquo is rom the Latin adven-
tus which means ldquocomingrdquo Te advent primarily in view
each December is the first coming o Jesus two millenniaago But Jesusrsquos second coming gets drawn in as well as the
popular Christmas carol ldquoJoy to the Worldrdquo makes plain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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37 December 18 John 983089983095983089983096
Te Christmas Model or Missions
39 December 19 Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Christmas Is or Freedom
41 December 20 983089 John 983091983096
Christmas Solidarity
43 December 21 John 983089983096983091983095
Te Birth o the Ancient o Days
45 December 22 John 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
Tat You May Believe
47 December 23 Romans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
Godrsquos Indescribable Gif
49 December 24 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Te Son o God Appeared
51 December 25 983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Tree Christmas Presents
54 Conclusion My Favorite Christmas ext
58 Appendix
Old estament Shadows and
the Coming o Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventi
PREFACE
Advent is or adoring Jesus At least thatrsquos our angle on it
at Desiring GodAdvent is an annual season o patient waiting hope-
ul expectation soul-searching and calendar-watching
marked by many churches Christian amilies and indi-
vidual ollowers o Jesus Terersquos no biblical mandate to
observe Advent Itrsquos an optional thingmdasha tradition that
developed over the course o the churchrsquos history as atime o preparation or Christmas Day Many o us find
observing Advent to be personally enjoyable and spiritu-
ally profitable
Te English word ldquoAdventrdquo is rom the Latin adven-
tus which means ldquocomingrdquo Te advent primarily in view
each December is the first coming o Jesus two millenniaago But Jesusrsquos second coming gets drawn in as well as the
popular Christmas carol ldquoJoy to the Worldrdquo makes plain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
December 7
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventi
PREFACE
Advent is or adoring Jesus At least thatrsquos our angle on it
at Desiring GodAdvent is an annual season o patient waiting hope-
ul expectation soul-searching and calendar-watching
marked by many churches Christian amilies and indi-
vidual ollowers o Jesus Terersquos no biblical mandate to
observe Advent Itrsquos an optional thingmdasha tradition that
developed over the course o the churchrsquos history as atime o preparation or Christmas Day Many o us find
observing Advent to be personally enjoyable and spiritu-
ally profitable
Te English word ldquoAdventrdquo is rom the Latin adven-
tus which means ldquocomingrdquo Te advent primarily in view
each December is the first coming o Jesus two millenniaago But Jesusrsquos second coming gets drawn in as well as the
popular Christmas carol ldquoJoy to the Worldrdquo makes plain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventii
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns inest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is ound
Advent begins the ourth Sunday beore Christmas and
ends Christmas Eve Tis means the earliest it begins
depending on where that Sunday alls is November 983090983095
and the latest it starts is December 983091 Whereas Lent (theseason o preparation or Easter) is 983092983088 days Advent ranges
in length rom 983090983090 to 983090983097 days
Christians throughout the world have their different
ways o celebrating Advent Some light candles Some
sing songs Some eat candies Some give gifs Some hang
wreaths Many o us do all o the above Christians havedeveloped many good ways o extending the celebration
o Jesusrsquos coming beyond merely the short 983090983092 hours o
December 983090983093 Te incarnation o the Son o God ldquoor us
and or our salvationrdquo as the old creed says it is too big a
thing to appreciate in just one day Indeed itrsquos something
the Christian will celebrate or all eternityOur prayer is that this little devotional might help
you keep Jesus as the center and greatest treasure o your
Advent season Te candles and candies have their place
but we want to make sure that in all the December rush
and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
So ldquoO Come Let Us Adore Himrdquo is perhaps the themesong o these Advent readings Tese meditations are
all about adoring Christ the Lord In spots yoursquoll hear
strands o ldquoO Come O Come Immanuelrdquo and in others
ldquoHark Te Heralds Angels Singrdquo And o course wersquoll
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
December 7
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiii
have a cameo rom the magi But the figure at the center
is Jesusmdashthe baby born in Bethlehem the God-man in
swaddling clothes laid in a manger destined or Calvarysent by his Father to die and rise again or his people
Te readings are drawn rom the ministry o John Piper
and as always we encourage you to access more than 983091983088
years o Pastor Johnrsquos writing and preaching at desiring-
Godorg Tanks to ony Reinke and Jonathan Parnell
who helped pull the excerptsAlso worth noting is that these devotionals correspond
with the daily readings rom Pastor John in the applica-
tion called ldquoSolid Joysrdquo which is available or ree down-
load in the iunes store I you find short daily reflections
like these to be helpul wersquod send you to Solid Joys once
Advent is doneTe Introduction is designed to be read beore the read-
ings begin on December 983089 Te Conclusion can be read as
an additional selection on Christmas Day (or any time
beore especially i yoursquore curious about Pastor Johnrsquos
avorite Christmas text) Te Appendix on Old esta-
ment shadows and the coming o Christ coordinates withthe meditation or December 983089983090 (and yoursquoll find a note in
italics there)
May God be pleased to deepen and sweeten your ador-
ing o Jesus this Advent
David Mathis Executive Editor
Desiring God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventiv
WHAT DOES JESUS WANTTHIS CHRISTMAS
ldquoFather I desire that they also whom you have given
me may be with me where I am to see my glory that
you have given me because you loved me beore the
oundation o the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983090983092
What does Jesus want this Christmas We can see the answer in his prayers What does he ask
God or His longest prayer is John 983089983095 Te climax o his
desire is in verse 983090983092
Among all the undeserving sinners in the world there
are those whom God has ldquogiven to Jesusrdquo Tese are those
whom God has drawn to the Son (John 983094983092983092 983094983093) Teseare Christiansmdashpeople who have ldquoreceivedrdquo Jesus as the
crucified and risen Savior and Lord and reasure o their
lives (John 983089983089983090 983091983089983095 983094983091983093 983089983088983089983089 983089983095ndash983089983096 983090983088983090983096) Jesus says he
wants them to be with him
Introduction
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventv
Sometimes we hear people say that God created man
because he was lonely So they say ldquoGod created us so that
we would be with himrdquo Does Jesus agree with this Wellhe does say that he really wants us to be with him Yes but
why Consider the rest o the verse Why does Jesus want
us to be with him
hellip to see my glory that you [Father] have given
me because you loved me beore the oundation othe world
Tat would be a strange way o expressing his loneliness
ldquoI want them with me so they can see my gloryrdquo In act it
doesnrsquot express his loneliness It expresses his concern or
the satisaction o our longing not his loneliness Jesus is not lonely He and the Father and the Spirit are
prooundly satisfied in the ellowship o the rinity We
not he are starving or something And what Jesus wants
or Christmas is or us to experience what we were really
made ormdashseeing and savoring his glory
Oh that God would make this sink in to our souls Jesus made us (John 983089983091) to see his glory
Just beore he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest
desires with the Father ldquoFather I desire [I desire] that
they hellip may be with me where I am to see my gloryrdquo
But that is only hal o what Jesus wants in these final
climactic verses o his prayer I just said we were reallymade or seeing and savoring his glory Is that what he
wantsmdashthat we not only see his glory but savor it relish it
delight in it treasure it love it Consider verse 983090983094 the very
last verse
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
December 7
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Adventvii
essence o heaven Tat is the gif Christ came to purchase
or sinners at the cost o his death in our place
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent1
PREPARE THE WAY
ldquoHe will turn many o the children o Israel to the Lord their God and he will go beore him in the
spirit and power o Elijah to turn the hearts o the
athers to the children and the disobedient to the
wisdom o the just to make ready or the Lord a
people preparedrdquo mdashLuke 983089983089983094ndash983089983095
What John the Baptist did or Israel Advent can do or us
Donrsquot let Christmas find you unprepared I mean spiritu-
ally unprepared Its joy and impact will be so much greater
i you are ready
Tat you might be preparedhellip
First meditate on the act that we need a Savior Christ-
mas is an indictment beore it becomes a delight It will
not have its intended effect until we eel desperately the
December 1
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent2
need or a Savior Let these short Advent meditations help
awaken in you a bittersweet sense o need or the Savior
Second engage in sober sel-examination Advent is toChristmas what Lent is to Easter ldquoSearch me O God and
know my heart ry me and know my thoughts And see
i there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlastingrdquo (Psalm 983089983091983097983090983091ndash983090983092) Let every heart prepare
him roomhellip by cleaning house
Tird build God-centered anticipation and expec-tancy and excitement into your homemdashespecially or the
children I you are excited about Christ they will be too
I you can only make Christmas exciting with material
things how will the children get a thirst or God Bend
the efforts o your imagination to make the wonder o the
Kingrsquos arrival visible or the childrenFourth be much in the Scriptures and memorize the
great passages ldquoIs not my word like fire says the Lordrdquo
(Jeremiah 983090983091983090983097) Gather lsquoround that fire this Advent sea-
son It is warm It is sparkling with colors o grace It is
healing or a thousand hurts It is light or dark nights
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
December 2
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
December 9
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent3
MARYrsquoS MAGNIFICENT GOD
ldquoMy soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior or he has looked on the humble estate o his servant
For behold om now on all generations will call me
blessed or he who is mighty has done great things or me
and holy is his name
And his mercy is or those who ear him
om generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts o their hearts
he has brought down the mighty om their thrones
and exalted those o humble estate
he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance o his mercy
as he spoke to our athers
to Abraham and to his offspring oreverrdquo mdashLuke 983089983092983094ndash983093983093
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
December 7
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent5
THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION
ldquoBlessed be the Lord God o Israel or he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn o
salvation or us in the house o his servant David as
he spoke by the mouth o his holy prophets om o old
that we should be saved om our enemies and om
the hand o all who hate ushelliprdquo mdashLuke 983089983094983096ndash983095983089
Notice two remarkable things rom these words o Zecha-
riah in Luke 983089
First nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe
his wie would have a child Now filled with the Holy
Spirit he is so confident o Godrsquos redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense For themind o aith a promised act o God is as good as done
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance ldquoGod has visited and redeemedrdquo
Second the coming o Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
December 3
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent6
o God to our world ldquoTe God o Israel has visited and
redeemedrdquo For centuries the Jewish people had lan-
guished under the conviction that God had withdrawnthe spirit o prophecy had ceased Israel had allen into the
hands o Rome And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation o God Luke tells us in 983090983090983093 that the devout
Simeon was ldquolooking or the consolation o Israelrdquo And
in Luke 983090983091983096 the prayerul Anna was ldquolooking or the
redemption o JerusalemrdquoTese were days o great expectation Now the long-
awaited visitation o God was about to happenmdashindeed
he was about to come in a way no one expected
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent7
FOR GODrsquoS LITTLE PEOPLE
In those days a decree went out om Caesar Augustusthat all the world should be registered Tis was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor o
Syria And all went to be registered each to his own
town And Joseph also went up om Galilee om
the town o Nazareth to Judea to the city o David
which is called Bethlehem because he was o thehouse and lineage o David to be registered with
Mary his betrothed who was with child
mdashLuke 983090983089ndash983093
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beorehand that the Messiah be born inBethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 983093 shows) and that
he so ordained things that when the time came the Mes-
siahrsquos mother and legal ather were living in Nazareth and
that in order to ulfill his word and bring two little people
December 4
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent8
to Bethlehem that first Christmas God put it in the heart
o Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own townHave you ever elt like me little and insignificant in a
world o seven billion people where all the news is o big
political and economic and social movements and o out-
standing people with lots o power and prestige
I you have donrsquot let that make you disheartened or
unhappy For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mam-moth political orces and all the giant industrial com-
plexes without their even knowing it are being guided
by God not or their own sake but or the sake o Godrsquos
little peoplemdashthe little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got rom Nazareth to Bethlehem God wields
an empire to bless his childrenDo not think because you experience adversity that
the hand o the Lord is shortened It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart And to
that end he rules the whole world As Proverbs 983090983089983089 says
ldquoTe kingrsquos heart is a stream o water in the hand o the
Lord he turns it wherever he willrdquoHe is a big God or little people and we have great
cause to rejoice that unbeknownst to them all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors o the world
ollow the sovereign decrees o our Father in heaven that
we the children might be conormed to the image o his
Son Jesus Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent9
NO DETOUR FROM CALVARY
And while they were there the time came or her to give birth And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him
in a manger because there was no place or them in
the inn mdashLuke 983090983094ndash983095
Now you would think that i God so rules the world as touse an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem he surely could have seen to it that a room was
available in the inn
Yes he could have And Jesus could have been born into
a wealthy amily He could have turned stone into bread
in the wilderness He could have called 983089983088983088983088983088 angels tohis aid in Gethsemane He could have come down rom
the cross and saved himsel Te question is not what
God could do but what he willed to do
Godrsquos will was that though Christ was rich yet or your
December 5
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent11
PEACE TO THOSE WITH WHOMHErsquoS PLEASED
ldquoAnd this will be a sign or you you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a mangerrdquo
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude o
the heavenly host praising God and saying ldquoGlory to
God in the highest and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleasedrdquo mdashLuke 983090983089983090ndash983089983092
Peace or whom Tere is a somber note sounded in the
angelsrsquo praise Peace among men on whom his avor rests
Peace among men with whom he is pleased Without aith
it is impossible to please God So Christmas does not
bring peace to allldquoTis is the judgmentrdquo Jesus said ldquothat the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds are evilrdquo (John 983091983089983097) Or as
the aged Simeon said when he saw the child Jesus ldquoBehold
December 6
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent12
this child is set or the all and rising o many in Israel
and or a sign that is spoken againsthellip that the thoughts
o many hearts may be revealedrdquo (Luke 983090983091983092ndash983091983093) O howmany there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christ-
mas day and see no more than that
ldquoHe came to his own and his own received him not
but to as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons o God to as many as believed on his
namerdquo It was only to his disciples that Jesus said ldquoPeaceI leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world
gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled nei-
ther let it be araidrdquo
Te people who enjoy the peace o God that surpasses
all understanding are those who in everything by prayer
and supplication let their requests be made known to GodTe key that unlocks the treasure chest o Godrsquos peace
is aith in the promises o God So Paul prays ldquoMay the
God o hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing rdquo
(Romans 983089983093983089983091) And when we do trust the promises o
God and have joy and peace and love then God is glorified
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleasedmdashmen who would believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent13
MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI
Now afer Jesus was born in Bethlehem o Judeain the days o Herod the king magi om the east
arrived in Jerusalem saying ldquoWhere is He who has
been born King o the Jewsrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983089ndash983090
Unlike Luke Matthew does not tell us about the shep-
herds coming to visit Jesus in the stable His ocus is imme-diately on oreigners coming rom the east to worship Jesus
So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and end-
ing o his Gospel as a universal Messiah or the nations
not just or Jews
Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrol-
ogers or wise men not rom Israel but rom the Eastmdashper-haps rom Babylon Tey were Gentiles Unclean
And at the end o Matthew the last words o Jesus are
ldquoAll authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Go thereore and make disciples o all the nationsrdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent14
Tis not only opened the door or the Gentiles to
rejoice in the Messiah it added proo that he was the Mes-
siah Because one o the repeated prophecies was that thenations and kings would in act come to him as the ruler
o the world
For example Isaiah 983094983088983091 ldquoNations will come to your
light and kings to the brightness o your risingrdquo So Mat-
thew adds proo to the messiahship o Jesus and shows that
he is Messiahmdasha King and Promise-Fulfillermdashor all thenations not just Israel
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent15
BETHLEHEMrsquoS SUPERNATURAL STAR
ldquoWhere is He who has been born King o the Jews For we saw His star in the east and have come to
worship Himrdquo mdashMatthew 983090983090
Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just
how certain things happened How did this ldquostarrdquo get the
magi rom the east to JerusalemIt does not say that it led them or went beore them It
only says they saw a star in the east (verse 983090) and came to
Jerusalem And how did that star go beore them in the lit-
tle five-mile walk rom Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 983097
says it did And how did a star stand ldquoover the place where
the Child wasrdquoTe answer is We do not know Tere are numerous
efforts to explain it in terms o conjunctions o planets
or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights We just
donrsquot know And I want to exhort you not to become
December 8
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent16
preoccupied with developing theories that are only tenta-
tive in the end and have very little spiritual significance
I risk a generalization to warn you People who are exer-cised and preoccupied with such things as how the star
worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna ell
and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns
to blood are generally people who have what I call a mental-
ity or the marginal You do not see in them a deep cherish-
ing o the great central things o the gospelmdashthe holiness oGod the ugliness o sin the helplessness o man the death
o Christ justification by aith alone the sanctiying work
o the Spirit the glory o Christrsquos return and the final judg-
ment Tey always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack
with a new article or book Tere is little centered rejoicing
But what is plain concerning this matter o the star isthat it is doing something that it cannot do on its own it
is guiding magi to the Son o God to worship him
Tere is only one Person in biblical thinking that can
be behind that intentionality in the starsmdashGod himsel
So the lesson is plain God is guiding oreigners to
Christ to worship him And he is doing it by exertingglobalmdashprobably even universalmdashinfluence and power
to get it done
Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire
so that the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to
Bethlehem to ulfill prophecy with her delivery Matthew
shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get oreignmagi to Bethlehem so that they can worship him
Tis is Godrsquos design He did it then He is still doing it
now His aim is that the nationsmdashall the nations (Mat-
thew 983090983092983089983092)mdashworship his Son
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
December 9
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent17
Tis is Godrsquos will or everybody in your office at work
and in your neighborhood and in your home As John 983092983090983091
says ldquoSuch the Father seeks to worship himrdquoAt the beginning o Matthew we still have a ldquocome-seerdquo
pattern But at the end the pattern is ldquogo-tellrdquo Te magi
came and saw We are to go and tell
What is not different is that the purpose o God is the
ingathering o the nations to worship his Son Te magni-
ying o Christ in the white-hot worship o all nations isthe reason the world exists
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
December 9
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent18
TWO KINDS OF OPPOSITIONTO JESUS
When Herod the king heard this he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him mdashMatthew 983090983091
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship
him and he brings out opposition or those who do Tis
is probably not a main point in the mind o Matthew butit is inescapable as the story goes on
In this story there are two kinds o people who do not
want to worship Jesus the Messiah
Te first kind is the people who simply do nothing
about Jesus He is a nonentity in their lives Tis group
is represented by the chie priests and scribes Verse 983092ldquoGathering together all the chie priests and scribes o the
people [Herod] inquired o them where the Messiah was
to be bornrdquo Well they told him and that was that back
to business as usual Te sheer silence and inactivity o the
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent19
leaders is overwhelming in view o the magnitude o what
was happening
And notice verse 983091 says ldquoWhen Herod the king heardthis he was troubled and all Jerusalem with himrdquo In other
words the rumor was going around that someone thought
the Messiah was born Te inactivity on the part o chie
priests is staggeringmdashwhy not go with the magi Tey are
not interested Tey do not want to worship the true God
Te second kind o people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who is deeply threatened by him Tat is
Herod in this story He is really araid So much so that he
schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to
get rid o Jesus
So today these two kinds o opposition will come
against Christ and his worshipers indifference and hostil-ity Are you in one o those groups
Let this Christmas be the time when you reconsider
the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent20
GOLD FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedinglywith great joy Afer coming into the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother and they ell to
the ground and worshiped Him Ten opening
their treasures they presented to Him gifs o gold
ankincense and myrrh mdashMatthew 983090983089983088ndash983089983089
God is not served by human hands as though he needed
anything (Acts 983089983095983090983093) Te gifs o the magi are not given
by way o assistance or need-meeting It would dishonor a
monarch i oreign visitors came with royal care-packages
Nor are these gifs meant to be bribes Deuteronomy
983089983088983089983095 says that God takes no bribe Well what then dothey mean How are they worship
Te gifs are intensifiers o desire or Christ himsel in
much the same way that asting is When you give a gif to
Christ like this itrsquos a way o saying ldquoTe joy that I pursue
December 10
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent21
(verse 983089983088) is not the hope o getting rich with things rom
you I have not come to you or your things but or your-
sel And this desire I now intensiy and demonstrate bygiving up things in the hope o enjoying you more not
things By giving to you what you do not need and what I
might enjoy I am saying more earnestly and more authen-
tically lsquoYou are my treasure not these thingsrsquordquo
I think thatrsquos what it means to worship God with gifs
o gold and rankincense and myrrhMay God take the truth o this text and waken in us
a desire or Christ himsel May we say rom the heart
ldquoLord Jesus you are the Messiah the King o Israel All
nations will come and bow down beore you God wields
the world to see that you are worshiped Tereore what-
ever opposition I may find I joyully ascribe authority anddignity to you and bring my gifs to say that you alone can
satisy my heart not theserdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent22
December 11
WHY JESUS CAME
Since thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhe himsel likewise partook o the same things that
through death he might destroy the one who has
the power o death that is the devil and deliver
all those who through ear o death were subject to
lielong slavery mdashHebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093
Hebrews 983090983089983092ndash983089983093 is worth more than two minutes in an
Advent devotional Tese verses connect the beginning
and the end o Jesusrsquos earthly lie Tey make clear why
he came Tey would be great to use with an unbelieving
riend or amily member to take them step by step through
your Christian view o Christmas It might go somethinglike thishellip
ldquoSince thereore the children share in flesh and bloodhelliprdquo
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent23
Te term ldquochildrenrdquo is taken rom the previous verse and
reers to the spiritual offspring o Christ the Messiah (see
Isaiah 983096983089983096 983093983091983089983088) Tese are also the ldquochildren o GodrdquoIn other words in sending Christ God has the salvation
o his ldquochildrenrdquo specially in view It is true that ldquoGod so
loved the world that he sent [Jesus] (John 983091983089983094)rdquo But it is
also true that God was especially ldquogathering the children o
God who are scattered abroadrdquo (John 983089983089983093983090) Godrsquos design
was to offer Christ to the world and to effect the salvationo his ldquochildrenrdquo (see 983089 imothy 983092983089983088) You may experience
adoption by receiving Christ (John 983089983089983090)
ldquohelliphe himsel likewise partook o the same things
[flesh and blood]helliprdquo
Christ existed beore the incarnation He was spirit He
was the eternal Word He was with God and was God
(John 983089983089 Colossians 983090983097) But he took on flesh and blood
and clothed his deity with humanity He became ully
man and remained ully God It is a great mystery in many
ways But it is at the heart o our aith and is what theBible teaches
ldquohellipthat through deathhelliprdquo
Te reason Jesus became man was to die As God he could
not die or sinners But as man he could His aim was todie Tereore he had to be born human He was born to
die Good Friday is the reason or Christmas Tis is what
needs to be said today about the meaning o Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent24
ldquohelliphe might destroy the one who has the power o
death that is the devilhelliprdquo
In dying Christ de-anged the devil How By covering all
our sin Tis means that Satan has no legitimate grounds
to accuse us beore God ldquoWho shall bring any charge
against Godrsquos elect It is God who justifiesrdquo (Romans 983096983091983091)
On what grounds does he justiy Trough the blood o
Jesus (Romans 983093983097)Satanrsquos ultimate weapon against us is our own sin I
the death o Jesus takes it away the chie weapon o the
devil is taken out o his hand He cannot make a case or
our death penalty because the Judge has acquitted us by
the death o his Son
ldquohellipand deliver all those who through ear o death
were subject to lielong slaveryrdquo
So we are ree rom the ear o death God has justified
us Satan cannot overturn that decree And God means
or our ultimate saety to have an immediate effect on ourlives He means or the happy ending to take away the slav-
ery and ear o the now
I we do not need to ear our last and greatest enemy
death then we do not need to ear anything We can be
ree ree or joy ree or others
What a great Christmas present rom God to us Androm us to the world
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent25
REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Te point o the book o Hebrews is that Jesus Christ
Godrsquos Son has not just come to fit into the earthly system
o priestly ministry as the best and final human priest but
he has come to ulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himsel ministering or usin heaven
Te Old estament tabernacle and priests and sacrific-
es were shadows Now the reality has come and the shad-
ows pass away
December 12
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent26
Herersquos an Advent illustration or kids (and or those
o us who used to be kids and remember what it was like)
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocerystore and you start to get scared and panic and donrsquot know
which way to go and you run to the end o an aisle and
just beore you start to cry you see a shadow on the floor at
the end o the aisle that looks just like your mom It makes
you really happy and you eel hope But which is better
Te happiness o seeing the shadow or having your momstep around the corner and seeing that itrsquos really her
Tatrsquos the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest Tatrsquos what Christmas is Christmas is the replace-
ment o shadows with the real thing
(For more on how the coming o Christ replaces the Old es-tament see the appendix at the end o this book)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent27
THE FINAL REALITY IS HERE
Now the main point in what has been said is thiswe have such a high priest who has taken His seat
at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty in the
heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man
mdashHebrews 983096983089ndash983090
Christmas is the replacement o shadows with the real thing
Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090 is a kind o summary statement Te
point is that the one priest who goes between us and God
and makes us right with God and prays or us to God is
not an ordinary weak sinul dying priest like in the Old
estament days He is the Son o Godmdashstrong sinless with an indestructible lie
Not only that he is not ministering in an earthly taber-
nacle with all its limitations o place and size and wearing
out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned
December 13
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent28
and torn and stolen No verse 983090 says that Christ is minis-
tering or us in a ldquotrue tabernacle which the Lord pitched
not manrdquo Tis is the real thing in heaven Tis is what caston Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied
According to verse 983089 another great thing about the
reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High
Priest is seated at the right hand o the Majesty in heaven
No Old estament priest could ever say that
Jesus deals directly with God the Father He has a place o honor beside God He is loved and respected
infinitely by God He is constantly with God Tis is not
shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and
candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and
pigeons Tis is final ultimate reality God and his Son
interacting in love and holiness or our eternal salvationUltimate reality is the persons o the Godhead in rela-
tionship dealing with each other concerning how their
majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness
and truth shall be maniest in a redeemed people
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent29
MAKING IT REAL FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much moreexcellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises
mdashHebrews 983096983094
Christ is the Mediator o a new covenant according toHebrews 983096983094 What does that mean It means that his
bloodmdashthe blood o the covenant (Luke 983090983090983090983088 Hebrews
983089983091983090983088)mdashpurchased the ulfillment o Godrsquos promises or us
It means that God brings about our inner transorma-
tion by the Spirit o Christ
And it means that God works all his transormation inus through aith in all that God is or us in Christ
Te new covenant is purchased by the blood o Christ
effected by the Spirit o Christ and appropriated by aith
in Christ
December 14
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent30
Te best place to see Christ working as the Mediator o
the new covenant is in Hebrews 983089983091983090983088ndash983090983089
Now the God o peace who brought up om the dead
the great Shepherd o the sheep through the blood o
the eternal covenant [this is the purchase o the new
co983158enant] even Jesus our Lord equip you in every
good thing to do His will working in us that which is
pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be the glory orever and ever Amen
Te words ldquoworking in us that which is pleasing in his
sightrdquo describe what happens when God writes the law on
our hearts in the new covenant And the words ldquothrough
Jesus Christrdquo describe Jesus as the Mediator o this glori-
ous work o sovereign graceSo the meaning o Christmas is not only that God
replaces shadows with Reality but also that he takes the
reality and makes it real to his people He writes it on our
hearts He does not lay his Christmas gif o salvation
and transormation down or you to pick up in your own
strength He picks it up and puts in your heart and in yourmind and seals to you that you are a child o God
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent31
LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
ldquoTe thie comes only to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have lie and have it
abundantlyrdquo mdashJohn 983089983088983089983088
As I was about to begin this devotional I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died She and her hus-
band Elmer have been part o Bethlehem longer thanmost o our members have been alive Marion was 983096983095 Tey
had been married 983094983092 years
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on lie he said ldquoHe
has been a true riendrdquo I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end o lie ldquoChrist has been a true riendrdquoEach Advent I mark the anniversary o my motherrsquos
death She was cut off in her 983093983094th year in a bus accident in
Israel It was December 983089983094 983089983097983095983092 Tose events are incred-
ibly real to me even today I I allow mysel I can easily
December 15
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
December 16
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent32
come to tearsmdashor example thinking that my sons never
knew her We buried her the day afer Christmas What a
precious Christmas it wasMany o you will eel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than beore Donrsquot block it out Let it come
Feel it What is love or i not to intensiy our affectionsmdash
both in lie and death But O do not be bitter It is tragi-
cally sel-destructive to be bitter
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal lieldquoI came that they might have lie and have it abundantlyrdquo
(John 983089983088983089983088) Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years Elmer said ldquoMarion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lordrdquo
Do you eel restless or home I have amily coming
home or the holidays It eels good I think the bottomline reason or why it eels good is that they and I are des-
tined in the depths o our being or an ultimate Home-
coming All other homecomings are oretastes And ore-
tastes are good
Unless they become substitutes O donrsquot let all the
sweet things o this season become substitutes o the finalgreat all-satisying Sweetness Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing afer heaven
Christmas What is it but this I came that they might
have lie Marion Newstrum Ruth Piper and you and Imdash
that we might have Lie now and orever
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmasby drinking at the ountain o Forever It is so near
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent33
GODrsquoS MOST SUCCESSFUL SETBACK
ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and bestowedon him the name that is above every name so that at
the name o Jesus every knee should bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
coness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory o God
the Fatherrdquo mdashPhilippians 983090983097ndash983089983089
Christmas was Godrsquos most successul setback He has
always delighted to show his power through apparent
deeat He makes tactical retreats in order to win strate-
gic victories
Joseph was promised glory and power in his dream(Genesis 983091983095983093ndash983089983089) But to achieve that victory he had to
become a slave in Egypt And as i that were not enough
when his conditions improved because o his integrity he
was made worse than a slave mdash a prisoner
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent34
But it was all planned For there in prison he met Pha-
raohrsquos butler who eventually brought him to Pharaoh
who put him over Egypt What an unlikely route to gloryBut that is Godrsquos way mdash even or his Son He emptied
himsel and took the orm o a slave Worse than a slave mdash
a prisoner mdash and was executed But like Joseph he kept
his integrity ldquoTereore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name so
that at the name o Jesus every knee should bowrdquo (Philip- pians 983090983097ndash983089983088)
And this is Godrsquos way or us too We are promised glory
mdash i we will suffer with him (Romans 983096983089983095) Te way up is
down Te way orward is backward Te way to success
is through divinely appointed setbacks Tey will always
look and eel like ailureBut i Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christ-
mas it is this ldquoGod meant it or goodrdquo (Genesis 983093983088983090983088)
You earul saints esh courage take
Te clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break In blessings on your head
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent35
THE GREATEST SALVATIONIMAGINABLE
ldquoBehold the days are coming declares the Lord when
I will make a new covenant with the house o Israel
and the house o Judahhelliprdquo mdashJeremiah 983091983089983091983089
God is just and holy and separated rom sinners like us
Tis is our main problem at Christmas and every otherseason How shall we get right with a just and holy God
Nevertheless God is merciul and has promised in Jer-
emiah 983091983089 (five hundred years beore Christ) that someday
he would do something new He would replace shadows
with the Reality o the Messiah And he would powerully
move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained rom outside but are willing rom
inside to love him and trust him and ollow him
Tat would be the greatest salvation imaginablemdashi
God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to
December 17
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent36
enjoy and then move in us to see to it that we could enjoy it
with the greatest reedom and joy possible Tat would be
a Christmas gif worth singing aboutTat is in act what he promised But there was a huge
obstacle Our sin Our separation rom God because o
our unrighteousness
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so
much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the uni-
verse (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possibleTe answer is that God put our sins on his Son and
judged them there so that he could put them out o his
mind and deal with us merciully and remain just and holy
at the same time Hebrews 983097983090983096 says ldquoChrist was offered
once to bear the sins o manyrdquo
Christ bore our sins in his own body when he diedHe took our judgment He canceled our guilt And that
means the sins are gone Tey do not remain in Godrsquos
mind as a basis or condemnation In that sense he ldquoor-
getsrdquo them Tey are consumed in the death o Christ
Which means that God is now ree in his justice to
lavish us with the new covenant He gives us Christ thegreatest Reality in the universe or our enjoyment And
he writes his own willmdashhis own heartmdashon our hearts so
that we can love Christ and trust Christ and ollow Christ
rom the inside out with reedom and joy
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent37
THE CHRISTMAS MODELFOR MISSIONS
ldquoAs you sent me into the world so I have sent them
into the worldrdquo mdashJohn 983089983095983089983096
Christmas is a model or missions Missions is a mirror o
Christmas As I so youFor example danger Christ came to his own and
his own received him not So you Tey plotted against
him So you He had no permanent home So you Tey
trumped up alse charges against him So you Tey
whipped and mocked him So you He died afer three
years o ministry So youBut there is a worse danger than any o these which
Jesus escaped So you
In the mid-983089983094th century Francis Xavier (983089983093983088983094ndash983089983093983093983090) a
Catholic missionary wrote to Father Perez o Malacca
December 18
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent38
(today part o Indonesia) about the perils o his mission to
China He said
Te danger o all dangers would be to lose trust and
confidence in the mercy o Godhellip o distrust him
would be a ar more terrible thing than any physical
evil which all the enemies o God put together could
inflict on us or without Godrsquos permission neither
the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us
in the slightest degree
Te greatest danger a missionary aces is to distrust the
mercy o God I that danger is avoided then all other
dangers lose their sting
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand As JW
Alexander says ldquoEach instant o present labor is to be gra-ciously repaid with a million ages o gloryrdquo
Christ escaped the danger o distrust Tereore God
has highly exalted him
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model or
missions As I so you And that mission means danger
And that the greatest danger is distrusting Godrsquos mercySuccumb to this and all is lost Conquer here and noth-
ing can harm you or a million ages
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent40
bondage through ear o death It is the power to keep
men in sin so that death comes as a horrid thing
But Jesus stripped Satan o this power He disarmedhim He molded a breastplate o righteousness or us that
makes us immune to the devilrsquos condemnation
By his death Jesus wiped away all our sins And a per-
son without sin puts Satan out o business His treason is
aborted His cosmic treachery is oiled ldquoHis rage we can
endure or lo his doom is surerdquo Te cross has run himthrough And he will gasp his last beore long
Christmas is or reedom Freedom rom the ear o
death
Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem to die our death in
Jerusalem that we might be earless in our city Yes ear-
less Because i the biggest threat to my joy is gone then why should I ret over the little ones How can you say
ldquoWell Irsquom not araid to die but Irsquom araid to lose my jobrdquo
No No Tink
I death (I said deathmdashno pulse cold gone)mdashi death
is no longer a ear wersquore ree really ree Free to take any
risk under the sun or Christ and or love No more bond-age to anxiety
I the Son has set you ree you shall be ree indeed
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent41
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY
Te reason the Son o God appeared was to destroythe works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983096
Te assembly line o Satan turns out millions o sins every
day He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them
to heaven and spreads them out beore God and laughs andlaughs and laughs
Some people work ull-time on the assembly line Oth-
ers have quit their jobs there and only now and then return
Every minute o work on the assembly line makes
God the laughing stock o Satan Sin is Satanrsquos business
because he hates the light and beauty and purity andglory o God Nothing pleases him more than when crea-
tures distrust and disobey their Maker
Tereore Christmas is good news or man and good
news or God
December 20
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent42
ldquoTe saying is sure and worthy o ull acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersrdquo (983089 imo-
thy 983089983089983093) Tatrsquos good news or usldquoTe reason the Son o God appeared was to destroy the
works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096) Tatrsquos good news or God
Christmas is good news or God because Jesus has
come to lead a strike at Satanrsquos assembly plant He has
walked right into the plant called or the Solidarity o the
aithul and begun a massive walk-outChristmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant
o sin No negotiations with the management No bar-
gaining Just single-minded unswerving opposition to
the product
Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes It
will not use orce or violence but with relentless devotionto ruth it will expose the lie-destroying conditions o the
devilrsquos industry
Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete
shutdown has been achieved
When sin has been destroyed Godrsquos name will be whol-
ly exonerated No one will be laughing at him anymoreI you want to give a gif to God this Christmas walk
off the assembly line and never go back ake up your
place in the picket line o love Join Christmas Solidarity
until the majestic name o God is cleared and he stands
glorious amid the accolades o the righteous
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent43
THE BIRTH OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Ten Pilate said to him ldquoSo you are a kingrdquo Jesus answered ldquoYou say that I am a king For this purpose
I was born and or this purpose I have come into the
worldmdashto bear witness to the truth Everyone who is
o the truth listens to my 983158oicerdquo mdashJohn 983089983096983091983095
Tis is a great Christmas text even though it comes romthe end o Jesusrsquos lie on earth not the beginning
Te uniqueness o his birth is that he did not originate
at his birth He existed beore he was born in a manger Te
personhood the character the personality o Jesus o Naz-
areth existed beore the man Jesus o Nazareth was born
Te theological word to describe this mystery is not cre- ation but incarnation Te personmdashnot the body but the
essential personhood o Jesusmdashexisted beore he was born
as man His birth was not a coming into being o a new per-
son but a coming into the world o an infinitely old person
December 21
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 5774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent45
THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence othe disciples which are not written in this book but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son o God and that by believing you
may have lie in his name mdashJohn 983090983088983091983088ndash983091983089
I eel so strongly that among those o us who have grownup in church and who can recite the great doctrines o
our aith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles
Creedmdashthat among us something must be done to help
us once more eel the awe the ear the astonishment the
wonder o the Son o God begotten by the Father rom
all eternity reflecting all the glory o God being the veryimage o his person through whom all things were created
upholding the universe by the word o his power
You can read every airy tale that was ever written every
mystery thriller every ghost story and you will never find
December 22
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 5874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent46
anything so shocking so strange so weird and so spell-
binding as the story o the incarnation o the Son o God
How dead we are How callous and uneeling to hisglory and his story How ofen have I had to repent and
say ldquoGod I am sorry that the stories men have made up
stir my emotions my awe and wonder and admiration and
joy more than your own true storyrdquo
Te space thrillers o our day like Star Wars and Te
Empire Strikes Back can do this great good or us theycan humble us and bring us to repentance by showing us
that we really are capable o some o the wonder and awe
and amazement that we so seldom eel when we contem-
plate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real liv-
ing contact between them and us in Jesus o Nazareth
When Jesus said ldquoFor this I have come into the worldrdquo hesaid something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any
statement in science fiction that you have ever read (John 983089983096983091983095)
O how I pray or a breaking orth o the Spirit o God
upon me and upon you I pray or the Holy Spirit to break
into my experience in a rightening way to wake me up to
the unimaginable reality o GodOne o these days lightning is going to fill the sky rom
the rising o the sun to its setting and there is going to
appear in the clouds one like a son o man with his mighty
angels in flaming fire And we will see him clearly And
whether rom terror or sheer excitement we will tremble
and we will wonder how how we ever lived so long withsuch a domesticated harmless Christ
Tese things are written that you might believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son o God who came into the world
Really believe
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 5974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6474
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 5974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent47
GODrsquoS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I while we were enemies we were reconciled to Godby the death o his Son much more now that we
are reconciled shall we be saved by his lie More
than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ through whom we have now received
reconciliation mdashRomans 983093983089983088ndash983089983089
How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in
God One answer is do it through Jesus Christ Which
means at least in part make the portrait o Jesus in the
Biblemdashthe work and the words o Jesus portrayed in the
New estamentmdashthe essential content o your exultation
over God Exultation without the content o Christ doesnot honor Christ
In 983090 Corinthians 983092983092ndash983094 Paul describes conversion two
ways In verse 983092 he says it is seeing ldquothe glory o Christ
who is the image o Godrdquo And in verse 983094 he says it is seeing
December 23
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent48
ldquothe glory o God in the ace o Jesus Christrdquo In either case
you see the point We have Christ the image o God and
we have God in the ace o ChristPractically to exult in God you exult in what you see and
know o God in the portrait o Jesus Christ And this comes
to its ullest experience when the love o God is poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as Romans 983093983093 says
So herersquos the Christmas point Not only did God pur-
chase our reconciliation through the death o the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 983089983088) and not only did God enable us to
receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ
(verse 983089983089) but even now verse 983089983089 says we exult in God
himsel through our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus purchased our reconciliation Jesus enabled us to
receive the reconciliation and open the gif And Jesushimsel shines orth rom the wrappingmdashthe indescrib-
able gifmdashas God in the flesh and stirs up all our exulta-
tion in God
Look to Jesus this Christmas Receive the reconcilia-
tion that he bought Donrsquot put it on the shel unopened
And donrsquot open it and then make it a means to all yourother pleasures
Open it and enjoy the gif Exult in him Make him
your pleasure Make him your treasure
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6374
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6474
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
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Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent49
THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
When verse 983096 says ldquoTe Son o God appeared or this
purpose to destroy the works o the devilrdquo what are the
ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that he has in mind Te answer is
clear rom the context
First verse 983093 is a clear parallel ldquoYou know that Heappeared in order to take away sinsrdquo Te phrase ldquohe
appeared tohelliprdquo occurs in verse 983093 and verse 983096 So probably
the ldquoworks o the devilrdquo that Jesus came to destroy are
sins Te first part o verse 983096 makes this virtually certain
December 24
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6374
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6474
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent50
ldquoTe one who practices sin is o the devil or the devil has
sinned rom the beginningrdquo
Te issue in this context is sinning not sickness or bro-ken cars or messed up schedules Jesus came into the world
to help us stop sinning
Let me put it alongside the truth o 983089 John 983090983089 ldquoMy little
children I am writing these things to you so that you may
not sinrdquo In other words I am promoting the purpose o
Christmas (983091983096) the purpose o the incarnation Ten headds (983090983090) ldquoAnd i anyone sins we have an Advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He Himsel is
the propitiation or our sins and not or ours only but also
or those o the whole worldrdquo
But now look what this means It means that Jesus
appeared in the world or two reasons He came that wemight not go on sinning and he came to die so that there
would be a propitiationmdasha substitutionary sacrifice that
takes away the wrath o Godmdashor our sins i we do sin
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6374
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6474
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6374
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent51
THREE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Little children make sure no one deceives you theone who practices righteousness is righteous just as
He is righteous the one who practices sin is o the
devil or the devil has sinned om the beginning
Te Son o God appeared or this purpose to destroy
the works o the devil mdash983089 John 983091983095ndash983096
Ponder this remarkable situation with me I the Son o
God came to help you stop sinningmdashto destroy the works
o the devilmdashand i he also came to die so that when you
do sin there is a propitiation a removal o Godrsquos wrath
then what does this imply or living your lieTree things And they are wonderul to have I give
them to you briefly as Christmas presents
December 25
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6474
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6474
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent52
1 A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose or living Nega-
tively it is simply this donrsquot sin ldquoI write these things to
you so that you may not sinrdquo (983089 John 983090983089) ldquoTe Son o God
appeared to destroy the works o the devilrdquo (983089 John 983091983096)
I you ask ldquoCan you give us that positively instead
o negativelyrdquo the answer is Yes itrsquos all summed up in 983089
John 983091983090983091 Itrsquos a great summary o what Johnrsquos whole let-
ter requires Notice the singular ldquocommandmentrdquomdashldquoTis
is His commandment that we believe in the name o His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He com-
manded usrdquo Tese two things are so closely connected or
John he calls them one commandment believe Jesus and
love others Tat is your purpose Tat is the sum o the
Christian lie rusting Jesus loving people rust Jesus
love people Terersquos the first gif a purpose to live
2 Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication o the twoold truth
that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgiveour sins Itrsquos this We make progress in overcoming our
sin when we have hope that our ailures will be orgiven
I you donrsquot have hope that God will orgive your ailures
when you start fighting sin you give up
Many o you are pondering some changes in the new
year because you have allen into sinul patterns and wantout You want some new patterns o eating New patterns
or entertainment New patterns o giving New patterns
o relating to your spouse New patterns o amily devo-
tions New patterns o sleep and exercise New patterns
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6574
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent53
o courage in witness But you are struggling wondering
whether itrsquos any use Well herersquos your second Christmas
present Christ not only came to destroy the works o thedevilmdashour sinningmdash he also came to be an advocate or
us when we ail in our fight
So I plead with you let the reedom to ail give you the
hope to fight But beware I you turn the grace o God
into license and say ldquoWell i I can ail and it doesnrsquot mat-
ter then why bother fightingrdquomdashi you say that and meanit and go on acting on it you are probably not born again
and should tremble
But that is not where most o you are Most o you want
to fight sinul patterns in your lie And what God is say-
ing to you is this Let the reedom to ail give you hope to
fight I write this to you that you might not sin but i yousin you have an advocate Jesus Christ
3 Christ Will Help Us
Finally the third implication o the double truth that
Christ came to destroy our sinning and to orgive our sins
is this Christ will really help us in our fight He really will
help you He is on your side He didnrsquot come to destroy
sin because sin is un He came to destroy sin because it is
atal It is a deceptive work o the devil and will destroy us
i we donrsquot fight it He came to help us not hurt us
So herersquos your third Christmas gif Christ will help
overcome sin in you 983089 John 983092983092 says ldquoHe who is in you is
greater than he that is in the worldrdquo Jesus is alive Jesus is
almighty Jesus lives in us by aith And Jesus is or us not
against us He will help you rust him
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6674
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent54
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TEXT
My avorite Christmas text puts humility at the heart o
Christmas So this Christmas I am marveling at Jesusrsquoshumility and wanting more o it mysel Irsquoll quote the text
in a moment
But first there are two problems im Keller helps us
to see one o them when he says ldquoHumility is so shy I
you begin talking about it it leavesrdquo So a meditation on
humility (like this one) is sel-deeating it seems But evenshy people peek out sometimes i they are treated well
Te other problem is that Jesus wasnrsquot humble or the
same reasons we are (or should be) So how can looking at
Jesusrsquos Christmas humility help us Our humility i there
is any at all is based on our finiteness our allibility and
our sinulness But the eternal Son o God was not finiteHe was not allible And he was not sinul So unlike our
humility Jesusrsquo humility originated some other way
Here is my avorite Christmas text Look or Jesusrsquos
humility
Conclusion
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6774
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent55
Tough he was in the orm o God [Jesus] did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped but
made himsel nothing taking the orm o a servantbeing born in the likeness o men And being ound
in human orm he humbled himsel by becoming
obedient to the point o death even death on a cross
(Philippians 983090983094ndash983096)
What defines Jesusrsquos humility is the act that it is mainly aconscious act o putting himsel in a lowly servant role or
the good o others His humility is defined by phrases like
rsaquo ldquohe emptied himsel [o his divine rights to be ree rom
abuse and suffering]rdquo
rsaquo ldquohe took the orm o a servantrdquo
rsaquo ldquohe became obedient to the point o death even death
on a crossrdquo
So Jesusrsquos humility was not a heart disposition o being
finite or allible or sinul It was a heart o infinite perec-
tion and inallible truthulness and reedom rom all sin which or that very reason did not need to be served He
was ree and ull to overflow in serving
Another Christmas text that says this would be Mark
983089983088983092983093 ldquoTe Son o Man came not to be served but to serve and
to give his lie as a ransom or manyrdquo Jesusrsquos humility was not
a sense o deect in himsel but a sense o ullness in himsel put at the disposal o others or their good It was a voluntary
lowering o himsel to make the height o his glory available
or sinners to enjoy
Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6874
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent56
lowliness and the good news or us ldquoCome to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ake
my yoke upon you and learn rom me or I am gentle andlowly in heart and you will find rest or your souls For my
yoke is easy and my burden is lightrdquo (Matthew 983089983089983090983096ndash983091983088)
His lowliness makes our relie rom burdens possible I
he were not lowly he would not have been ldquoobedient unto
death even death on a crossrdquo And i he had not been obe-
dient to die or us we would be crushed under the weighto our sins He lowers himsel to take our condemnation
(Romans 983096983091)
Now we have more reason to be humble than beore
We are finite allible sinul and thereore have no ground
or boasting at all But now we see other humbling things
Our salvation is not owing to our work but his grace Soboasting is excluded (Ephesians 983090983096ndash983097) And the way he
accomplished that gracious salvation was through volun-
tary conscious sel-lowering in servant-like obedience to
the point o death
So in addition to finiteness allibility and sinulness
we now have two other huge impulses at work to humbleus ree and undeserved grace underneath all our blessings
and a model o sel-denying sacrificial servanthood that
willingly takes the orm o a servant
So we are called to join Jesus in this conscious sel-
humbling and servanthood ldquoWhoever exalts himsel will
be humbled and whoever humbles himsel will be exalt-edrdquo (Matthew 983090983091983089983090) ldquoHave this mind among yourselves
which is yours in Christ Jesushelliprdquo (Philippians 983090983093)
Letrsquos pray that this ldquoshy virtuerdquomdashthis massive ground o
our salvation and our servanthoodmdashwould peek out rom
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 6974
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent57
her quiet place and grant us the garments o lowliness this
Advent ldquoClothe yourselves all o you with humility toward
one another or lsquoGod opposes the proud but gives grace tothe humblersquordquo (983089 Peter 983093983093)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7074
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent58
OLD TESTAMENT SHADOWS ANDTHE COMING OF CHRIST
One o the main points o the book o Hebrews is that theOld Covenant system o worship is a shadow replaced by
Christ So Christmas is the replacement o shadows with
reality (You can see this in Hebrews 983096983093 where it says that
the priests ldquoserve a copy and shadow o the heavenly thingsrdquo)
Consider six such shadows that the coming o Christ
replaces with reality
1 The shadow of the Old Covenant priesthood ldquoAnd the or-
mer priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers
because they were prevented by death rom continuing
but he on the other hand because he abides orever
holds his priesthood permanentlyrdquo (Hebrews 983095983090983091ndash983090983092)
2 The shadow of the Passover sacrifice ldquoClean out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in
act unleavened For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificedrdquo (983089 Corinthians 983093983095)
Appendix
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7174
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent59
3 The shadow of the tabernacle and temple ldquoNow the main
point in what has been said is this we have such a high
priest who has taken his seat at the right hand o the
throne o the Majesty in the heavens a minister in the
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord
pitched not manrdquo (Hebrews 983096983089ndash983090)
ldquoJesus answered and said to them lsquoDestroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it uprsquo Te Jews thereore
said lsquoIt took orty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three daysrsquo But he was speaking
o the temple o his bodyrdquo ( John 983090983089983097ndash983090983089)
4 The shadow of circumcision ldquoCircumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing but what matters is
the keeping o the commandments o Godrdquo (983089 Corin-
thians 983095983089983097)
5 The shadow of dietary laws ldquoAnd he said to them lsquoAre
you so lacking in understanding also Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man rom out-
side cannot defile him because it does not go into his
heart but into his stomach and is eliminatedrsquo (Tushe declared all oods clean)rdquo (Mark 983095983089983096ndash983089983097)
6 The shadow of feast days ldquoTereore let no one act as
your judge in regard to ood or drink or in respect to a
estival or a new moon or a Sabbath daymdashthings which
are a mere shadow o what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christrdquo (Colossians 983090983089983094ndash983089983095)
Te meaning o Christmas is that the substance belongs to
Christ Tat is religious ritual is like a shadow o a great
and glorious Person Let us turn rom the shadow and look
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7274
Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent60
the Person in the ace (983090 Corinthians 983092983094) My little chil-
dren keep yourselves rom (religious) idols (983089 John 983093983090983089)
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7374
Desiring God
Post Office Box 2901 Minneapolis Minnesota 55402
8883464700 maildesiringGodorg
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would under-
stand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when
we are most satisfied in him Our primary strategy for accomplish-
ing this mission is through a maximally useful website that houses
over thirty years of John Piperrsquos preaching and teaching including
translations into more than 40 languages This is all available free of
charge thanks to our generous ministry partners If you would like tofurther explore the vision of Desiring God we encourage you to visit
wwwdesiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg
8122019 Christmas Bible Study
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchristmas-bible-study 7474
Advent is for adoring Jesus
It is a season of preparation for that special day when we mark
Immanuelrsquos arrival mdash the coming of our eternal God in frail
human flesh
This is the greatest wonder of historyrsquos many wonders some-
thing too stupendous to celebrate just on one day Advent is a
way of lengthening the joy of Christmas
These 25 brief devotional readings from John Piper begin on
December 1 and carry us to Christmas Day Our prayer is that
God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your ado-ration of Jesus this December and keep him as the center and
greatest treasure of your Christmas season The candles and
candies have their place but we want to make sure that in all
the Christmas rush and hubbub we adore Jesus above all
John Piper is founder and teaching of desiringGodorg and
chancellor Bethlehem College amp Seminary He is author of more
than 50 books and more than 30 years of his teaching ministry
is available online free of charge at desiringGodorg