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Table of Contents
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Matthew 2:1-6 (Gospels)
1-6 King Herod was on the throne, Jesus had been born in Bethlehem in Judea, and wise men from the East were in Jerusalem.
‘Where’s the baby?´ they asked. ´Where's the child who's been born to be King of the Jews?
We know he's around somewhere, because we saw his star rising, and we've come all this way to worship him. So, where is he?´
Of course, it wasn't long before word got back to Herod, and he wasn't happy at all. And if Herod was worried, everybody was worried -
everybody in Jerusalem, at any rate. So Herod got the scribes and chief priests together, and asked them, ´Where's this Messiah supposed to be born, then?‘
´In Bethlehem of Judea,` they told him. ´That’s where the prophet said:
"You, Bethlehem in Judah, you're not to be sniffed at where the rulers of Judah are concerned -
because it's from you that the great ruler will come, who's going to guide my people, Israel, like a shepherd."`
Luke 1: 67ff (Gospels)
67ff Then Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and started to prophesy:
Blessed be God, the God of Israel,
because he's visited and redeemed his people.
He's raised up a great saviour for us
in the line of David, his servant.
Well, isn't this what he promised through all those prophets,
to save us from our enemies, liberate from the clutches of people who hate us?
So, by doing this he's shown the kindness promised to our ancestors,
remembered the covenant of old,
the solemn promise he made to our ancestor Abraham
that he said he would give to us: that we'd be liberated from the fear of our enemies
and set free for a proper relationship with him, to serve him for all our days!
And you - son - well, you've got a really special place in this!
´The prophet of the Most High‘, everyone’ll call you!
John 1:1-8 (Gospels)
1-5 In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was right there with God - in fact, the Word was God, no less.
He was right there, before all things, with God, and all creation was made through him.
Without him, not one single craeted thing came into existence.
In him was real life - true living - and that life was the light of all people.
So the light shines in the darkness - and the darkness hasn't a hope of overcoming it!
6-8 There was a man sent from God - John, his name was - who came as a witness, to testify to the light,
so that through him everybody might believe.
Now, get this straight: he wasn't the light himself - he came to testify to the light.
Acts 10:34ff (Acts)
34f Peter started to speak to them: ´Well, that does it! Now I know that God truly doesn't have any favourites -
good-living people, wherever they are, are all equally OK to him.
Right, well, you know the basic message, don't you? - the one that was sent initially to the Israelites -
that peace is offered to everyone through Jesus Christ - he's the Lord of all people, you know.
Well, that message spread all through Judea, starting in Galilee, after the baptism proclaimed by John -
the message of Jesus, from Nazareth, anointed by God himself with the Holy Spirit and all the power that implies,
and about how he then went round doing good, healing all - the ones whose lives the devil was making a misery -
because God was really with this guy, make no mistake about that.
