{"id":1158,"date":"2023-11-27T18:12:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deadmannotwalking.org\/?p=1158"},"modified":"2023-11-27T18:12:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:12:17","slug":"advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deadmannotwalking.org\/?p=1158","title":{"rendered":"Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3So Moses said, \u201cI must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up\u201d . . . “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, \u2018The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, \u201cI am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.'”  (Exodus 3:1-3, 16, NASB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sue and I were watching The 700 Club on Thanksgiving, and they had an interesting segment about Advent and the traditions behind this time of year.\u00a0 The Advent wreath was mentioned, as was Advent hymns.\u00a0 They said that it was tradition that certain Christmas hymns were not to be sung until Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, but we’ve ignored this tradition.\u00a0 One of the Advent hymns of tradition is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”\u00a0 I thought that I’d write about this hymn over several essays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exodus 3:2 image.\u00a0 Found at Knowing Jesus,\u00a0https:\/\/dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com\/exodus-3-2<\/a>
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A Bible scholar mentioned that the first segment was tied to Exodus 3, and the story of Moses and the burning bush.\u00a0 Let’s look at this:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  And ransom captive Israel.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moses had escaped from slavery in Egypt after murdering an Egyptian who was mistreating a fellow Israelite.  In the passage above, Moses was tending the sheep of his father-in-law by Mount Sinai (Horeb), when he saw a burning bush.  He decided to investigate, and noticed that the bush was not being consumed by the fire.  Now that God had his attention, He explained His mission to Moses:  God wanted Moses to set His Chosen People free, to lead them out of slavery (” . . . and ransom captive Israel.”).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Jesus came to the earth which He created, the same conditions existed:  Israel was entrapped in slavery, by sin.  Jesus came to the earth on the greatest rescue mission in history!  We have the same problem today:  We’re shaves to sin.  We need a Savior!  That’s where Jesus comes in.  This Advent season, we prepare our hearts to commemorate His appearance on this earth.  But we must also prepare our hearts for His glorious Reappearance!  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHA’ALU SHALOM YERUSHALAYIM! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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