House of Hope Online

December 22, 2024

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Last week, we talked about how the Lord is with us and how He promises to be with us throughout the scriptures.  We looked at the powerful promise of deliverance in Psalms 34.

Psalms 34:

 17 [The righteous] cry and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.

 18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

We mentioned that the word “delivers” in verses 17 and 19 has special meaning in the Spirit.  The Hebrew word for deliverance means to snatch away, to defend, to escape danger without fail, to pluck, preserve, recover, rescue, and to save.  I used the example of how the Lord snatched me away from the dangers inherent to major surgery.  He plucked me from pneumonia and preserved me.  He rescued me.  He heard my cry and fixed my broken heart valve.  He delivered me from evil.  He saved me.

Spiritual Deliverance

In the spiritual realm, deliverance takes on even more importance because the devil is prowling around seeking someone to destroy.

1^st Peter 5:

 8 ¶ Be of sober [spirit,] be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Therefore, many of us are subject to adversarial spiritual forces seeking to drag us down, seeking to bring us into despair, sadness, depression, lack, infirmity, fear, and all sorts of evil.  Peter warns us to be sober of spirit and be on the alert. 

When these things come upon you, you need spiritual deliverance.  And your Deliverer is, you guessed it, Jesus Christ.  He has come to deliver us from all our afflictions, from all our troubles.  In Luke 19, we see Jesus’ own words giving us the assurance that He has come to seek and save us when we become spiritually lost.

Luke 19:

 10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

I love Luke 19:10 because we like to think that we sought the Lord for our salvation, but the truth is He came to seek us.  It is in His mission statement – He has come to seek us and save us.

I hope that this comes as great encouragement to you during this Christmas Season.  That is why Jesus humbled Himself and left Heaven.  He did that to seek us and to save us from the evil that the devil would have us in – fear, despair, depression, and especially eternal damnation.

An Appropriate Christmas Gift

Jesus’ purpose in this world was obvious from the beginning and was reflected in the gifts He received from the wise men who visited Him at the manger.

Matthew 2:

 10 And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

 11 And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Let’s focus on the gift of frankincense, which is significant because it signified Jesus’ future as High Priest.  Frankincense comes from tree sap which hardens to a resin which, when burned, gives off a fragrant aroma.  Frankincense is associated with the priest in the temple, so the gift was appropriate for Jesus’ life purpose.

Hebrews 2:

 17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Jesus came to become our High Priest.  Now the job of High Priest is significant.  In the Old Testament, the High Priest is the one who oversees the blood sacrifice and enters the Holy Temple to seek atonement for the sins of the people.  And we know that Jesus likewise came for the atonement of our sins.

Hebrews 4:

 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as [we are, yet] without sin.

 16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4 encourages us that because Jesus came in the manger, and became like us, He can sympathize with our weaknesses because He too was tempted yet did not sin.  Therefore, we can draw near to Him with confidence, knowing we will receive mercy and grace in our time of need.

Closing

In closing, let us focus on our time of need.  Our time of need is when the devil prowls around us with sickness, unwelcome news, sadness, financial lack, temptations to sin, and all sorts of schemes to rob us of our joy and salvation.

The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to Timothy, encourages us to pray for all, because God wants us all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1^st Timothy 2:

 1 ¶ First of all, then, I urge that entreaties [and] prayers, petitions [and] thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

 2 for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 5 For there is one God, [and] one mediator also between God and men, [the] man Christ Jesus,

 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony [borne] at the proper time.

As you celebrate Christmas, give the gift of worship to Jesus, as the wise men did.  Give Him frankincense by acknowledging Him as High Priest in your life.  And pray for all to accept Him as Lord and Savior and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You for the one mediator between you and mankind, the man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for all.  Thank You that Jesus came to seek and to save us.  Lead us by Your Holy Spirit to pray on behalf of all people, that they would accept Jesus as High Priest.  Lead us into times of worship this week and every day.  Let us come and behold Him.  O Come, let us adore Him – Christ the Lord!  Amen.