When we sing beloved Christmas songs, we often proclaim God’s love to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joy to the world<\/em>….let earth<\/em> receive her king… And on and on we could go. But these aren\u2019t convenient rhymes or empty words\u2014when Jesus came to save the world, it was for everyone who would believe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes this so startling is that the whole Old Testament pointed to the redemption of God\u2019s people, most often understood to be the Israelites\u2014the people God set aside in Genesis to be His people. And yet, as early as God\u2019s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, we see that God promised to not only bless this specific people (Abraham\u2019s descendants) but rather the whole world. This is revolutionary love, love that transcends race, cultural identity, geography, and more. It is a privilege beyond measure not just for those born of Abraham\u2019s biological family but for anyone who acknowledges their sin and receives the free love and mercy of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Isaiah 49, the prophet proclaims this truth: \u201cIt is not enough for you to be my servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth\u201d (Isaiah 49:6). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then after the birth of Jesus, the righteous man Simeon proclaimed a blessing on the baby at the temple: \u201cYou have prepared it in the presence of all peoples\u2014a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel\u201d (Luke 2:31\u201332)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This gives us a clear thread, from Genesis to Luke, of God\u2019s ultimate plan of redemption that included not just the Israelites but also the Gentiles. Jesus himself set an example of this in John 3\u20134 when He shared the good news about Himself with a Jewish person (Nicodemus), a Samaritan woman (the woman at the well), and a Gentile (the official\u2019s son). Later in Acts 1:8, Jesus charged the disciples with taking the good news to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n God proclaimed His love to the whole world when He sent Jesus that first Christmas. And it is a love that extends beyond any human boundary because it is a perfect love that is available to anyone\u2014regardless of status as Jew or Gentile. And as God\u2019s people, we get the extraordinary privilege of bearing witness to that life-changing love to everyone we meet.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we sing beloved Christmas songs, we often proclaim God’s love to the world. Joy to the world….let earth receive her king…Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till he appeared… Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere… And on and on we could go. But these aren\u2019t convenient rhymes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":71563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent2024"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71574],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"She Reads Truth","devotional_text":"LOVE PROCLAIMED<\/b> When we sing beloved Christmas songs, we often proclaim God's love to the world.<\/p> Joy to the world<\/em>....let earth<\/em> receive her king... And on and on we could go. But these aren\u2019t convenient rhymes or empty words\u2014when Jesus came to save the world, it was for everyone who would believe.<\/p> What makes this so startling is that the whole Old Testament pointed to the redemption of God\u2019s people, most often understood to be the Israelites\u2014the people God set aside in Genesis to be His people. And yet, as early as God\u2019s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, we see that God promised to not only bless this specific people (Abraham\u2019s descendants) but rather the whole world. This is revolutionary love, love that transcends race, cultural identity, geography, and more. It is a privilege beyond measure not just for those born of Abraham\u2019s biological family but for anyone who acknowledges their sin and receives the free love and mercy of God.<\/p> In Isaiah 49, the prophet proclaims this truth: \u201cIt is not enough for you to be my servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth\u201d (Isaiah 49:6).<\/p> Then after the birth of Jesus, the righteous man Simeon proclaimed a blessing on the baby at the temple: \u201cYou have prepared it in the presence of all peoples\u2014a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel\u201d (Luke 2:31\u201332)<\/p> This gives us a clear thread, from Genesis to Luke, of God\u2019s ultimate plan of redemption that included not just the Israelites but also the Gentiles. Jesus himself set an example of this in John 3\u20134 when He shared the good news about Himself with a Jewish person (Nicodemus), a Samaritan woman (the woman at the well), and a Gentile (the official\u2019s son). Later in Acts 1:8, Jesus charged the disciples with taking the good news to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.<\/p> God proclaimed His love to the whole world when He sent Jesus that first Christmas. And it is a love that extends beyond any human boundary because it is a perfect love that is available to anyone\u2014regardless of status as Jew or Gentile. And as God\u2019s people, we get the extraordinary privilege of bearing witness to that life-changing love to everyone we meet.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"26","scripture":"Isaiah 49:5-6, Luke 2:21-40","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Long lay the world<\/em> in sin and error pining, till he appeared…
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\r\nby Melanie Rainer<\/i>
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\r\nLong lay the world<\/em> in sin and error pining, till he appeared...
\r\nGo tell it on the mountain, over the hills and <\/em>everywhere<\/em>...<\/p>
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