Prophecy 3

John 1:1-2

A few years back we gave our two sons some skateboard ramps. They came in a very large box too big to wrap so we left it in the garage. On Christmas morning we sent our boys out into the garage to get the box. They were amazed by the gift and wondered when we had gotten it. We explained that it had been sitting in the garage for weeks; they just hadn’t noticed.

The Gospel of John begins with some explanation as to the relationship of Jesus to God. Who is “the Word?” Where was “the Word?”

When we celebrate Christmas we often get caught up in the hurry and stress of all that needs to be done. We worry about our money. We worry about buying the perfect gift. We stress over cleaning our house to be ready for guests.

With all that occupies our minds we can easily forget what it is we are really celebrating at Christmas. We are celebrating the fact that God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son, a part of Himself, to live on earth in human form.

That was a tremendous and wonderful gift that we have received. It is the ultimate gift and the ultimate expression of love. Such a gift was not an afterthought. It was not a gift hastily purchased or prepared.

The gift of Jesus was a gift that was intended from the beginning of all things. John tells us that in the beginning, when everything was just starting and nothing existed but God, Jesus – the Word – was with God. Jesus was God; he was part of the Almighty.

As we move into the Advent season and prepare ourselves to celebrate the precious gift of Christ, we need to remember that this gift has been waiting for us since before time began. The gift has been given. The gift is there ready for us to receive it. Have we noticed it yet?

DAILY CHALLENGE: How will you remember the gift of Jesus this year?

Everlasting Father 1

John 1:1-2 and Hebrews 13:8

If you've ever been on a long car trip with small children (or not so small children) you've proven Albert Einstein's theory that time is relative! It speeds up or slows down depending on how fast one thing is moving relative to something else. Time and space and light and age are all in a state of constant change.

This week we will be looking at how we can possibly understand the term "Everlasting Father." Eternity is a concept of time too complex for our simple minds to grasp. Everlasting is virtually incomprehensible to us.

Yet in John 1, it tells us that Jesus was already with God when things began. So Jesus (the Word) is older than the beginning. It's a paradox that we can't hope to fully understand. How can Jesus exist before the beginning? Yet the trinity have no beginning and no end.

And unlike Einstein's theories of relativity of time and space, we are told that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

He is before the beginning and unchanging throughout the whole span of time. It's so easy to say those words, but really hard to internalize. Mathematics and science can try to explain infinity, but even that is limited.

But the mathematical symbol for infinity (at right) might help.

Like Jesus, there is no beginning and no end. It is an endless swoop of balanced and symmetrical beauty. It's not just a symbol of eternity, it is designed to be one. Where does it begin and where does it end? It doesn't. The question isn't really even valid.

It's the same with God. We can't ask where does He begin and end because the question is irrelevant. God, like the infinity symbol is always constant, beautiful, and endlessly connected. He is before the beginning, after the end and eternally in the present.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Are you living only in the past, only for the future or only in the moment? Where can you see evidence of God's presence in all three in your life?