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Names of Jesus Advent: Awesome (December 4)
Too often we are more excited about the benefits of the Lord than the Lord Himself. We celebrate in victory, blessing, healing, and strength; but do we celebrate whenever we see and meet with Him? I have concluded that there is no way that I walk in the realization of the awesome wonder of God at all times. My life would look vastly different if I did.
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
December 4: Awesome
“O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places.
The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people.
Blessed be God!”
Psalm 68:35
Most theologians believe Psalm 68 is connected with the coming of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. Israel found victory over her enemies. Jerusalem was secure. But most importantly, the presence of God had returned.
Interestingly, the title of Psalm 68 is “To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.” As the people marched forward with the Ark, the trumpets sounded, and this song rose up to God. There was a joyful explosion of praise and music centered around the presence of the Lord.
Even though David and the people of Israel were celebrating the return of the Ark, David knew that God was greater than any holy place. He was greater than any holy thing. As wonderful as Israel, Jerusalem, and even the Ark of the Covenant were, God Himself is exceedingly greater.
Too often we are more excited about the benefits of the Lord than the Lord Himself.
We celebrate in victory, blessing, healing, and strength; but do we celebrate whenever we see and meet with Him?
I have concluded that there is no way that I walk in the realization of the awesome wonder of God at all times. My life would look vastly different if I did.
Consider the definition of awesome: “extremely impressive or daunting”.
Can we say that our perspective of God is so extremely impressive that we stand in a daunting awe and wonder of Him? Does the weight of the anticipation of His coming overwhelm you? Do you feel drawn up into a holy ecstasy as you consider Him and His ways?
If you are struggling to say yes to those questions, or even remember the last time you stood in awe of God, I would submit that you need to be still in His presence reflecting only upon who He is and what He has done.
Our relentless pursuit of Him thrives when we desire to stand in awesome wonder of the greatness of God.
I find, like David, that singing praises and worshiping God is the best way to magnify your perspective of the Lord.
“We have too much sinning against God, but cannot have too much singing to God.”
- Charles Spurgeon
May we worship God in all of His awesomeness today.
In closing, consider the exhortations of Psalms 66 and 68:
“Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
Sing out the honor of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
Say to God,
‘How awesome are Your works!’”
Psalm 66:1-3
“Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;
Oh, sing praises to the Lord…
O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places.
Blessed be God”
Psalm 68:32-35
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: Horn of Salvation (December 3)
“Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: ‘Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David’” Luke 1:67-69
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
December 3: Horn of Salvation
“Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:
‘Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David’”
Luke 1:67-69
This prophecy about the Lord Jesus is particularly fascinating to me. The phrase ‘horn of salvation’ has gripped my heart for quite some time.
Immediately, the imagery of strength and victory comes to mind. But what if there is more? What if there is an invitation to know Jesus as the Horn of Salvation unlike ever before?
First, let’s look at this interesting detail of where the Lord met Zacharias to tell him of John’s conception.
Luke 1:11 reads, “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to [Zacharias], standing on the right side of the altar of incense.”
The altar of incense was placed before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies - where God’s radiant, weighty, manifest presence was. The altar of incense was a place of prayer and worship. Every morning and night the priest would offer burning incense to the Lord as a prophetic symbol of our prayers to God.
Revelation 5:8 shows us that in the Throne Room of Heaven, “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
We also see that when Zacharias approached this altar “all the assembled worshipers were praying outside” Luke 1:10 (NIV).
This sacred place was meant to cause hearts to stir unto prayer and worship as they beheld the Lord.
The angel of the Lord waited through all of Zacharias’ priestly duties only to appear at the particular moment he stood before this altar. Here the angel told Zacharias about his wife’s conception of their son, John - the one who would ”make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
When Zacharias witnessed the birth of his son, he blessed the Lord and declared that He ”has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.”
Perhaps he was thinking of that angelic encounter where he was told that his son would be a forerunner for the Lord. The Savior was coming. Freedom was at hand. And it all was revealed to him before the horns of the altar.
Zacharias was well aware of how for sin offerings, “the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting” (Leviticus 4:6).
He saw that the answer to the generational prayers of deliverance would come through the blood of the Savior.
One was coming who would willingly put His all-sufficient blood on the horns of the altar.
The power of sin forever broken by His sacrifice.
His blood would be the perfect intercession unto salvation.
He would be the one to rip the veil and give us free access to the presence of God.
He is the Horn of Salvation.
He is Jesus.
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: Our Sacrifice (December 2)
In Genesis, we read that Abraham is elderly, and His aging wife has been barren from the earliest days of their marriage. Yet, even in his old age, God has given them a son, Isaac. God then asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. His only son.
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
December 2: Our Sacrifice
“But Christ came…Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood…He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
Hebrews 9:11,12,26 (NKJV)
In Genesis, we read that Abraham is elderly, and His aging wife has been barren from the earliest days of their marriage. Yet, even in his old age, God has given them a son, Isaac. God then asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. His only son.
Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice and said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Abraham knew that Isaac was a promise, and he wouldn’t die (and even if He did, God would raise him from the dead.) It was at that moment that God provided a ram, not a lamb, to spare Isaac. This is crucial to understand. The Lamb of God was yet to come.
Genesis 22:16-18 records God’s response to Abraham’s faith.
“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Furthermore, Galatians 3:16 clarifies this promise by reading, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”
Think about when John the Baptist saw Jesus. What did he say?
“BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD!”
Isaac was a shadow of the ultimate sacrifice. The coming lamb. Our Jesus.
God Himself would take on the form of a man to become the promised lamb of God. Through Him, and Him alone, are all the nations blessed. He is our sacrifice! His blood alone has blotted out our sins.
This Advent season, may we contemplate the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus.
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: Alpha and Omega (December 1)
God. Infinite. Immeasurable. Without beginning or end. His own Self-declaration says that He is the bookends of all creation; nothing exists without Him. If you are a student of Greek, you would know that Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. Jesus here is telling John that, as his own gospel proclaims, He has existed from before the beginning of time and creation.
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
December 1: Alpha and Omega
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8 (NKJV)
God. Infinite. Immeasurable. Without beginning or end. His own Self-declaration says that He is the bookends of all creation; nothing exists without Him. If you are a student of Greek, you would know that Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. Jesus here is telling John that, as his own gospel proclaims, He has existed from before the beginning of time and creation.
He always has been and always will be.
If this is hard to understand, good. I would be concerned if you could fully grasp this concept. God is far bigger than our minds can comprehend. He is infinite in all His ways. We cannot exaggerate His goodness and measure.
Think for a moment about how the God who said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” put all of His power and rights aside and came to the earth in the most vulnerable way possible. The infinite God took on the fragile, finite form of a baby. He was totally reliant on Mary and Joseph.
I often ask myself, why would He do this? Simply put, He did it to save His creation from their sin and separation from God. He did it for you. He did it for me.
This Advent season, may we focus on the Alpha and the Omega; the God, who infinite in His measure, stepped into the finite reality of humankind to save us.
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: Bread of Life (November 30)
Bread has been a staple of survival throughout history. When reflecting on Jesus’ name, “Bread of Life,” I am drawn to the exodus journey. The Israelites wandered in the desert. Hot. Hungry. Tired. Thirsty. Yet, God, in His lovingkindness, provided manna for them every single morning. This mystery bread from heaven was their source of physical sustenance in the wilderness.
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
November 30: Bread of Life
“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.””
John 6:35 (NKJV)
Bread has been a staple of survival throughout history. When reflecting on Jesus’ name, “Bread of Life,” I am drawn to the exodus journey. The Israelites wandered in the desert. Hot. Hungry. Tired. Thirsty. Yet, God, in His lovingkindness, provided manna for them every single morning. This mystery bread from heaven was their source of physical sustenance in the wilderness.
In the same way, we need Jesus, the Bread of Life, every single day. As we wander through the wilderness, we need to rely on Him and Him alone. He promises that those who come to Him will never hunger. We can rest in His fullness.
He not only provides everything we need, He invites us into communion (or co-union) with Him through bread. When celebrating the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus instituted what we call communion. Through this, He declared that the bread is His body, and the wine, His blood. Every time we partake of the bread and wine, we are remembering what He has done, receiving Him anew, and anticipating His coming again.
Deep intimacy is found in the Bread of Life.
Advent is a time to take of the Bread of Life and remember that He who delivered you is faithful to sustain you.
Advent is a time to take of the Bread of Life and receive life and life abundantly from Him. We seek no other source.
Finally, Advent is a time to take of the Bread of Life and anticipate His next advent, when He comes on the clouds for His Bride.
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: High Priest (November 29)
Perhaps High Priest is one of the more difficult names of Jesus to understand. Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you have no need for a biblical high priest in regard to your relationship with God. We understand that Jesus, our Savior, made a way for us to have perfect union with God. We can boldly enter His presence. The veil has been torn. The separation between God and man rent.
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
November 29: High Priest
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 (NKJV)
Perhaps High Priest is one of the more difficult names of Jesus to understand. Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you have no need for a biblical high priest in regard to your relationship with God. We understand that Jesus, our Savior, made a way for us to have perfect union with God. We can boldly enter His presence. The veil has been torn. The separation between God and man rent.
To understand the richness of this name of Jesus, we must look at what a high priest is.
The high priest was of the utmost importance to the religious life of Israel. The high priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year. Consider for a moment having no access to God’s manifest presence outside of once a year!
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice for the atonement for the sins of Israel. No ‘unholy’ person could enter the Holy of Holies. Even for the high priest, there was an elaborate week-long series of religious rituals and ceremonies to be done before he was sufficiently ‘purified’ to enter God’s presence.
When Jesus came incarnate, He came fully God and fully man.
He lived as we do, yet without sin. He was the sacrifice for our sins. He was the perfect High Priest to enter God’s presence on our behalf. He understands us perfectly and shows us a better way.
Quite literally, we now have greater access to God than the high priests ever did.
This Advent season may we contemplate the beauty and wonder of Jesus, our High Priest.
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: Righteous Judge (November 28)
Miracle on 34th Street is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Surprisingly, there is a bit of political commentary in a Christmas film from the 1940s. In particular, judicial corruption. In the movie, Judge Henry Harper is tasked with the role of either committing Kris Kringle to a mental institution or providing a verdict that declares, “Santa is real.”
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
November 28: Righteous Judge
“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:8 (NKJV)
Miracle on 34th Street is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Surprisingly, there is a bit of political commentary in a Christmas film from the 1940s. In particular, judicial corruption. In the movie, Judge Henry Harper is tasked with the role of either committing Kris Kringle to a mental institution or providing a verdict that declares, “Santa is real.”
Charlie Halloran, a ward heeler of sorts, is placing immense pressure on Judge Harper to make the “right” ruling, which in all reality is self-preservation at best. Mr. Halloran shows that if Judge Harper wants to be re-elected, he will have to validate Kringle as Santa Claus. The judge clearly doesn’t want to do it, but Mr. Halloran tells him he must, or he won’t be a judge much longer.
Sadly, this judicial corruption has been around since the dawn of the justice system.
When we read that God is a Righteous Judge, we must understand that He cannot be compared to earthly judges. At the end of time, the rewards of heaven are not passed out in an arbitrary manner. They are given because they ought to be, or simply put because God is righteous and just in doing it.
Jesus, our Righteous Judge, cannot be bought or persuaded. No man will be admitted to heaven unless he is cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. In the same right, no one will be excluded who ought to have been saved. Salvation is a sure reality, a done deal in every sense of the word.
John 5:30 (NKJV) reads, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” The judgments of Jesus are righteous and final; there is no appeal system in Heaven. This is a life-altering reality.
In this advent season, let’s offer thanksgiving for the coming of the Righteous Judge, the One with the authority to pass judgment over death itself. He is the one who delivers His people from all sorrow and suffering into everlasting joy and peace.
If you would like to display a 30-day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: Desire of the Nations (November 27)
Jesus gives us wild hope, celebratory anticipation, and an unmatched sense of fulfillment. Here the prophet writes that there will be a shaking of the nations. This is not a gentle prod. Nor an awakening. It is a shaking of divine judgment that, as Calvin wrote, “shall habituate [the nations] to the ruling power of God.”
This advent blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
November 27: Desire of the Nations
“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
Haggai 2:6-7 NKJV
There is great controversy regarding the translation of this verse. Some believe that this is referring to material wealth, while others believe it is referring to the Lord Jesus through Messianic prophecy. Regardless of interpretation, I personally find that the Wesley Brothers, in their writing of Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, penned a striking stanza that wonderfully captures Jesus as the Desire of the Nations:
Come, Desire of Nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble Home;
Rise, the Woman's conq'ring seed,
Bruise in us the Serpent's Head;
Adam's Likeness now efface,
Stamp thine Image in its Place;
Second Adam from above,
Re-instate us in thy Love.
Jesus gives us wild hope, celebratory anticipation, and an unmatched sense of fulfillment. Here the prophet writes that there will be a shaking of the nations. This is not a gentle prod. Nor an awakening. It is a shaking of divine judgment that, as Calvin wrote, “shall habituate [the nations] to the ruling power of God.”
Following the shaking is the coming to the Desire of All Nations. Whether the nations rage and plot against Him or even know Him not, Jesus is their sole desire. Not only does He “rule over the nations” (Psalm 22:28,) it is said “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11.)
The great shaking of the nations will lead to the great conversion of the nations. As the gravity of the sun pulls planets through space and time towards itself, so does the Son of God pull the nations close to lean upon His bosom and feel His heartbeat. Jesus does not only want intimacy with isolated individuals, He wants intimacy with the nations.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) reads, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Right now, the nations are being shaken. We need to turn to the Desire of the Nations in repentance and reverence. When we do, we will experience a greater outpouring of His glory than was experienced in 2 Chronicles 7, where it reads, “And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house” (2 Chronicles 7:2.)
Advent is a time, as a nation, to behold Him and come to Him. It is time to set Him as the rightful desire of our hearts. Of our family. Of our neighborhood. Of our County. Of our State. Of our Nation.
“Come, Desire of Nations, come.”
If you would like to display a 30 day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Names of Jesus Advent: First Love (November 26)
Throughout history, monks and mystics alike have often set apart the month of December as a time to reflect on His first coming in the flesh, to meditate on the present reality of His indwelling of believers, and to anticipate His final coming for His bride, the Church.
Throughout history, monks and mystics alike have often set apart the month of December as a time to reflect on His first coming in the flesh, to meditate on the present reality of His indwelling of believers, and to anticipate His final coming for His bride, the Church.
This special time of fasting and focusing solely on the Lord stirred up a divine anticipation for His final coming and also created an insatiable hunger and expectation to see Him change our present reality. This blog series will help draw you closer to the Person of Jesus, the lover of your soul.
November 26: First Love
“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
Revelation 2:4 NKJV
Intensely loving God is the most Christian thing you can do.
Jesus, Himself says that all of Scripture hangs on this command: “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:38 NKJV.)
This love is not shallow. It is not superficial. It is not easy.
It is as demanding as the waves that beat on the shore, seemingly without end, longing to perhaps breach the land, pushing into the greater depths of the unknown landscape before it.
There is a holy call to quite literally give Him your all. Just as the ocean has no care for the effects of a crashing wave, so too should we give ourselves to Him with abandon.
In Revelation, we find that as Jesus speaks to His Church, His Bride, He raises many points of contention with His people. They say they loved Him, yet their actions showed otherwise. Joy had turned into sorrow. Zeal into monotony. Passion into transaction. Devotion into afterthought. The supreme first love had faded into a distant memory like a photograph aged by the sun.
We must learn to linger in His presence once more, attempting to outstay our welcome, only to find that He has no desire to cut our time short. Practically speaking, the “practice of His presence” is loving Him as a crescendo without end. There are to be no stops and limits to our affection and devotion.
Psalm 27:4 reads, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”
In this Advent season, can we unquestionably say, “He is my first love”? Anything less than yes requires a reset.
There must be an intentional reorganization of our life to return to our first love. Advent is a call to align yourself under the loving Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Kari Jobe, in her song “First Love,” pens these wonderful words:
“I’m returning to the secret place.
Just an altar and a flame.
Love is found here in our sacred space.
I hear Your voice. I see Your face.
You’re still my first love.
You’re still my only one.”
The longing of everyone who belongs to Him is to love Him with reckless abandon.
How is He calling you to prioritize Him this season? Do not lose heart, the door of intimacy is not locked. He is calling you in. Deeper and deeper still.
If you would like to display a 30 day Advent wall calendar in your home, check this out!
Keep Jesus as the center of Christmas with these easy-to-read, simple printable cards that look beautiful. You can display them on your wall, string them across the mantle, or use them as unique tree ornaments.
Enjoy the printable cards and a devotional pdf for this Advent season!