FIRST LIGHT

A NEWSLETTER OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
110 SYDENHAM STREET KINGSTON , ON K7L 3H5

(613) 548-7116
fbckgstn@kingston.net
Advent 2009

Oct 03, Nov 03, Dec 03, April 04, May 04, Oct 04, Dec 04, April 05, Sept 05, Oct 05, Nov 05,
April 06, Oct 06, Dec 06, April 07, Aug 07, Dec 07, Mar 08, Nov 08, Dec 08,

Just this past week, one of our daughters told Anne-Marie that she could hardly wait for Christmas.  She was counting down the days.  I wonder what she would have thought if someone had told her that Christmas was centuries away.  Thankfully for Siobhan, it is not centuries away.  Even a six year old can count down to Christmas now.  But I think of the Old Testament faithful who looked forward to the coming of the Messiah.  Some of them looked forward to the coming of the Messiah many centuries before He actually did arrive.  Now that’s faith!  I wonder how many of us have that kind of faith.  But several of these Old Testament prophets and undoubtedly those who read the prophets believed and did look forward to the coming of the Messiah were people who trusted in God’s promises.  What incredible faith they had! 

I think of Micah back in the 8th century BC prophesying that out of Bethlehem, though it was small among the clans of Judah, would come one who would be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times (Micah 5:2).  I think of Isaiah from the same century speaking of the coming of Immanuel, a child born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).  I think of this same prophet saying a couple of chapters later: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Then there is this prophet Zechariah.  He was a post-exilic prophet.  He spoke to the people of Judah after the time of the Babylonian exile.  Indeed, he spoke to the people of Judah after they had lived there for about 18 years and still didn’t have a temple to show for it.  They were a demoralized group.  They wondered if there was a future for them.  In this context, God spoke through the prophet Zechariah.  In this small prophetic book are numerous occasions where he looked forward to the coming Messiah.  The Messiah means “the anointed one” and is derived from a verb meaning “to anoint (with oil).”  In the Bible, priests (Exodus 28:41; 29:7), kings (1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Kings 1:34), and apparently prophets (1 Kings 19:16) were anointed for service.  The anointing symbolized the Holy Spirit’s  power coming to rest upon these individuals to accomplish their tasks, a truth beautifully illustrated in the account of David’s anointing (1 Samuel 16:12-13).  I pray that I would be anointed before I preach on Sunday morning.  But I am just one who points to the Messiah.  In the chart below are a listing of these references to the Messiah in the Book of Zechariah.

 

Direct References      
3:8-10                          Messiah’s work as high priest
6:9-15                          Messiah as king-priest over the nations
9:9-10                          Messiah as coming king
10:4                              Messiah as Judah’s promised ruler
11:4-14                         Messiah as the rejected good shepherd          
12:10                            Messiah as the pierced one
13:7                              Messiah as the slain shepherd

Indirect References
1:8-17                           Man among the myrtle trees (angel of the Lord)
2:10-13                         Messiah (God Incarnate) living among His people
14:4                              Messiah’s (God Incarnate) return to the Mount of Olives
14:9, 16-17                   Messiah (God Incarnate) as king of the earth

Titles
3:8                               My servant
3:8; 6:12                       Branch
3:8                               Stone
9:9; 14:9, 16-17            King
10:4                              Cornerstone, tent peg, battle bow, ruler
11:9; 13:7                      Shepherd
12:10                            The pierced One
13:7                              The man who is close to me (my associate)                  

The Old Testament is not just the history of an ancient people, but a thrilling account of God’s plan of redemption for the human race.  The Messiah is the key to that redemption.  Zechariah predicted that the Messiah would save from sin and ultimately deliver the human race from sin’s devastating effects.  That Messiah is Jesus of Nazareth who was born in a stable in Bethlehem. 

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, may we ponder what this Messiah means for us.  May we develop the faith of the great saints of the past and be faithful in the midst of great challenges.  I have just heard this week that some are suggesting that our economy might return to a recession.  I suppose there are as many viewpoints out there as people.  But if we are not to lose heart during these days I think we are going to have to have faith like those Old Testament heroes of the past.  Perhaps there are heroes of the faith in bud right here right now at First Baptist Church here in Kingston.  I am sure there are.  Let us encourage one another with this kind of faith.

On behalf of my family, I want to wish each of you a wonderful Christmas. 

Love,

 

Pastor Kevin Smith

 
For Those Who Like to Read, I want to mention three books at this time. 

The first is a book I purchased and began to read.  When my mother was here at Thanksgiving, she began to read it and couldn’t put it down.  Now she has loaned it to my brother-in-law.  It is the story of the Karen situation.  The book is entitled Little Daughter: A Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West.  The author, Zoya Phan, was born in the remote jungles of Burma, to the Karen ethnic group. For decades the Karen have been under attack from Burma's military junta; Zoya's mother was a guerrilla soldier, her father a freedom activist. She lived in a bamboo hut on stilts by the Moei River; she hunted for edible fungi with her much-loved adopted brother, Say Say. Many Karen are Christian or Buddhist, but Zoya's parents were animist, venerating the spirits of forest, river and moon. Her early years were blissfully removed from the war. At the age of fourteen, however, Zoya's childhood was shattered as the Burmese army attacked. With their house in flames, Zoya and her family fled. So began two terrible years of running from guns, as Zoya joined thousands of refugees hiding in the jungle. Her family scattered, Zoya sought sanctuary across the border in a Thai refugee camp. Conditions in the camp were difficult, and Zoya now had to care for her ailing mother. Zoya, a gifted pupil, was eventually able to escape, first to Bangkok and then, with her enemies still pursuing her, in 2004 she fled to the UK and claimed asylum. The following year, at a 'free Burma' march, she was plucked from the crowd to appear on the BBC, the first of countless interviews with the world's media. She became the face of a nation enslaved, rubbing shoulders with presidents and film stars. By turns uplifting, tragic and entirely gripping, this is the extraordinary true story of the girl from the jungle who became an icon of a suffering land.      [Take my mother’s word for it.  I don’t know when I will get the book back to finish it - but she gives it two thumbs up!  You can pick it up at Chapters or Indigo.]

The second book is by one of my favourite writers, Gerald Sittser, a professor at Whitworth College in Spokane out in Washington State.  His latest is Love One Another: Becoming the Church Jesus Longs For (InterVarsity Press, 2008).  This is both the simplest and most difficult command given by Jesus to the church.  Like Sittser’s other works this is just an excellent book.  I encourage you to read it.

The final book is one by the General Secretary of Canadian Baptist Ministries, the Rev Dr Gary Nelson.  It is entitled Borderland Churches: A Congregation’s Introduction to Missional Living.  I just completed it last week. In some ways it speaks to our situation and in others it doesn’t.  At the very least it will enable you to enter into dialogue with what a number of other Canadian Baptists are reading.  Copies of it are available at the Church Bookroom.  Jonathan Wilson, Pioneer MacDonald Professor at Carey Theological College, has described it as an indigenous missional theology for Canada.  I wouldn’t describe it in such words.  When I think of a missional theology I think of Hendrik Kraemer’s The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World.  For many years he was professor of the history of religions in the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.  It went through numerous editions between 1938 and 1961.  I also think of David Bosch’s Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission which was published just before his tragic death in 1991in an automobile accident.  However, there are helpful tools here in Nelson’s book.  Without giving too much of the book away, it will challenge you.