Friday, October 14, 2022

Orange Moon Friday, October 14, 2022 "Jesus of Nazareth"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

    

               "Jesus of Nazareth"


    For Nathaniel, there was just something about Nazareth that did not sit well.

   "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.  And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see" (John 1:45-46).

   We do not know the source of Nathaniel's skepticism regarding Nazareth.  We do know he could not imagine the Messiah or "any good thing" proceeding from a place he held in disdain and disrepute.  Upon meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, however, Nathaniel quickly changed his mind as the Savior changed his heart: "Thou art the Son of God.  Thou art the King of Israel" (John 1:49).  Indeed, Nathaniel discovered the Source of all good things proceeding from Nazareth.  His experience provides a great lesson to the hearts of all believers.

   "The Light shineth in darkness" (John 1:5).

   We all have Nazareths in our lives, that is, circumstances, situations, conditions, people, and perhaps literal places where it seems as if "no good thing" could come forth.  This may be true in earthly, human terms.  In the light of Heaven and its God, however, the Son and the King may come forth from whence we least expect Him.  He always will, in fact, as we trust and submit to His assurance of coordinating all things in our lives for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28-29).  Consider the three young men in the book of Daniel.  Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had no notion they would encounter the Son of God in the fiery furnace, where death loomed (Daniel 3:25).  In faithfulness to their Lord, they nevertheless heeded the mandate to "come and see" what might await them in the fiery furnace.  In a place where it surely seemed "no good thing" could come forth, the Son and the King joined them.  Nebuchadnezzar confirms, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25). 

    Our own Nazareths offer opportunity to "Come and see."  Can any good thing come forth from this difficult situation, or that troublesome person, or some circumstance that forebodes of doom?  Or will the Lord Jesus come to us by some wondrous way that served as His blessed path to us?  "Come and see" said Philip to Nathaniel, who came and went to find the Son of God and the King of Israel awaiting him.  "Come and see" beckon the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the Christ of God who so often comes to us from places we would never have imagined, but from which His light often shines more brightly because as Nathaniel discovered to his surprise, our Lord is "Jesus of Nazareth."

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
(II Corinthians 4:6)

Weekly Memory Verse    
   For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."
(II Corinthians 8:9)



















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