My eyes are filled with tears this afternoon.  Not because I am sad about any thing particular.  No, I did not watch a Hallmark movie, I try to avoid them if at all possible.  I just finished my study for Sunday after two days of research about the ministry of priests and the work of the Great High Priest.  One cannot read the Bible and miss the almost tedious directions for the consecration of priests and their responsibilities.  Honestly, Leviticus is tough!  But, what we cannot miss is this reality; we need someone to represent us before God and that someone cannot take that responsibility lightly.  Coming before a holy God is not child play.  It is serious business.  However even the priests who did their job well had to go back and make offerings year after year after year, never bringing people to perfection in spite of all the work.  But then, in the fullness of time, the Great High Priest who was also the Lamb of God came on the scene.  As the God/Man He perfectly represented God to man and man to God.  He took the penalty no man could take and a penalty He did not have to take.  He bore the wrath of God that He might make perfect those who come to Him by faith.  Being a priest under the Old Covenant was messy business.  I've field dressed a few critters in my day and believe me, gutting, skinning, cutting and butchering is not something you want to do on your coffee table while watching your Hallmark movie.  And, I'm pretty sure those priests didn't have latex gloves to keep their hands clean as they offered those sacrifices day after day and year after year.  Our Great High Priest didn't avoid the mess either.  His hands were bloody for a different reason...it was His own blood.  He became messy for the messy.  I need a priest, a Great High Priest, one who now sits at the right hand of God making intercession for those who believe.   That is why I am tearful this afternoon.  "And can it be...?"  Thank You Jesus, thank You for being the perfect mediator and granting us the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies with You.  We bless your holy Name!

Our Advent Meditation this week will center on Role of Jesus Christ as Prophet.  This has been a wonderful-horrible study.  Wonderful in the reminder that God keeps taking initiative to tell us the truth in spite of the fact that we love deceit!  Horrible in the reminder of how prone we are to wander from reality to lies.  We have been referring to the Bible as the overview of God's Story.  We could also refer the Bible as a history of man's response to truth.  I'm not qualified or gifted to go into the whole subject of ontology (the study of ultimate reality) or epistemology (the study of knowing reality).  I know that intellectual giants have gone into those realms and I am thankful for their giftedness and their contributions to our understanding.  While I haven't read the works Plato & Co. I do believe that the people who have pursued the idea of truth and reality and have been honest with the historical record have always come back to some recognizable basics.  God is.  God made us.  We are messed up by our self-will.  God came to us as one of us to restore us.  God did this for His glory.  That is absolute truth.  It is true for all people, in all places, at all times.  At the center of this is the Incarnation.  The invisible God became visible in a human body...that is an arrival.  That is "Advent."  That is truth.  What will we do with this Prophet?  How will we respond to the truth?  These are questions worth thinking about in the midst of the tinsel and the holly.