LAST LESSONS #217 — CHRISTMAS 2024

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

Because of Isaiah 9:6 we celebrate Christmas, and what a wonderful time it is! Christ was born—in time—on earth. We can read about him in the Bible. He has revealed himself to us so that we can know him. We know he lived a perfect life. We know he died for our sins. We know he rose from the grave to give us eternal life, and we know he is coming again. This is what we celebrate during this Christmas season.

I want to celebrate Christ’s coming with my family and so I will take off a couple of weeks from writing blogs. You don’t have time to read them during this busy time either. So—

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

With love,

Rosemary

LAST LESSONS #216 — ANTICIPATION

“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:7

When we were kids, we anticipated Christmastime more than any other time of the year. That’s because we wanted Christmas presents, right? I remember one year that I wanted a doll—a “Betsy-Wetsy” doll—that I could feed a bottle of water to and the doll would wet its diaper. Are you old enough to remember Betsy-Wetsy? It was a long time ago, but I remember that I could hardly wait for Christmas morning to get my doll.

I still anticipate the Christmas season, but now it’s not “things” that I want, but seeing my family and thinking about the birth of Jesus. I will go to church and listen to music, and it is planned that my children, my grandchildren, and most of my great-grandchildren will be here together—and I can’t wait!

But for me, most anticipated of all is the Lord’s return. I want the Lord to come—to take me home or to bring in his new world. He says he is coming soon, but I am not sure what “soon” means. But he is coming! I can count on that, and I don’t need to know the time. I just need to wait with great anticipation for whichever the Lord has for me. Since I don’t know the day nor the hour of his coming, I will anticipate a joyful Christmas here and now. How about you?

LAST LESSONS #215 — FORGIVEN

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”  Psalm 32:1

After Thanksgiving was over and we had given thanks for everything we could think of (including Black Friday when we got a good start on our Christmas shopping), I began to ponder what I was thankful for more than anything else. What popped up in my head was forgiveness of sin. My sins are forgiven. I don’t need to carry them anymore. They have been removed. Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

I try to remember to confess my sins often and to believe that God forgives them.

Some years ago, a friend asked me to pray for her so that she could know that a special sin she had committed had been forgiven. She told me that she had prayed 1 John 1:9 again and again, but she did not feel forgiven. Of course, the simple answer was that she must believe what Jesus said. She had confessed her sin, and now she needed to believe she was forgiven. Really believing would make her feel forgiven.

Forgiveness is different from pardon. We have recently heard of a president who pardoned his son for some crimes that would have sent him to jail. It did not cost the president who pardoned his son anything. He did not go to jail in place of his son. On the other hand, it cost Jesus his life to forgive us. Jesus took our “crimes” on himself and died for them so that we can go free. That’s what substitutionary atonement means.

So, the Thanksgiving holiday is over, but I want to remember to be thankful for forgiveness of sin every day—maybe every hour!