He Has Come

Thanks for bearing with me over the last few posts and my sharing of all the broken nooks and crannies of this redeemed heart. God is good. I've been thinking, why have I felt the need to share all of this lately? Maybe it's because we all need the reminder here at Christmas that Jesus came to earth to save us from the mess. He has already come. I love the advent season and anticipating His second coming, which will forever totally save us from these broken hearts and warped minds, but it's important to remember that He has already come and has already brought to us the victory over all of our junk.

I heard a message last night from the familiar passage in Exodus 3 where God appears to Moses in the burning bush out in the wilderness. He says to Moses, "I have seen the suffering of my people. I have heard their cries. I know their sorrows. And I have come to deliver them out of bondage and into a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey." The Hebrew word He used when He said that He saw their suffering means that He observed it closely and studied it for a long time. The Hebrew word He used when He said that He "knew" their sorrows means that He was intimately acquainted with it, that their suffering was close to His heart. He was concerned. And then the kicker; "And I have come." Come to do what? Deliver them from bondage. Deliver you from bondage. Deliver me from bondage.  Hallelujah!

"The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that they may have life more abundantly." -John 10:10

John 12:46 "I have come as a Light into the world, and whoever abides in Me shall not live in darkness."

Why else has He come? Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed MeTo preach good tidings to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captives,And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,And the day of vengeance of our God;To comfort all who mourn,³ To console those who mourn in Zion,To give them beauty for ashes,The oil of joy for mourning,The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;That they may be called trees of righteousness,The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Because He has come, we don't have to live in bondage, whether to a body image issue or a past mistake or a spirit of defeat. We are free because Jesus came in a manger. That is something to celebrate this Christmas.