LUKE 2:2-20 TELLS THE STORY OF JESUS'' BIRTH IN BETHLEHEM. HIS PARENTS MARY AND JOSEPH HAD TO GO TO BETHLEHEM HIS FATHER'S HOMETOWN, WHERE A CENSUS WOULD BE TAKEN. THERE WAS NO ROOM IN THE INN, AND THEY HAD TO STAY IN THE STABLE BECAUSE IT WAS TIME FOR MARY TO GIVE BIRTH. THEY PLACED THE BABY IN THE MANGER, WHICH WAS ACTUALLY A FEEDING TROUGH FOR THE ANIMALS. THE MANGER SERVES AS A PROPHETIC OBJECT THAT PRESENTS JESUS TO THE WORLD AND POINTS TO HIS SALVIFIC DEATH FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD. IT IS AN ALLUSION TO JESUS AS "FOOD" THAT SYMBOLIZES THE GOOD TIDIGS OF SALVATION FOR ALL WHO PARTAKE IN HIM. THE MANGER AS A METAPHOR REMINDS US OF JESUS AS THE "BREAD OF LIFE" JESUS IS BOTH FOOD FOR OUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, AND FOOD THAT PHYSICALLY NOURISHES US IN THE BREAD AND WINE OF COMMUNION.

12/9/25

REVELATION 19:7-10 SPEAKS ABOUT THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE
LAMB. John had a vision about what would happen in heaven after the rapture with the saints. The marriage supper of the lamb will be a celebration marking the union of Jesus Christ with his church, or the bride. This event is a future celebration of immense joy and intimacy between believers and Christ, following the judgment of the wicked and preceding Jesus’ millennial reign. The passage calls for believers to rejoice because the bride (the church) has made herself ready by being clothed in the “righteousness of saints,” symbolized by clean, white linen. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is better understood in light of the wedding customs in the time of Christ---The Jewish marriage custom.

12/2/25

JESUS ENCOUNTERS TEN MEN WITH LEPROSY WHO CALL OUT TO HIM FOR MERCY AND HE HEALED THEM ALL AND TOLD THEM TO SHOW THEMSELVES TO THE PRIEST. PEOPLE WITH LEPROSY WAS CONSIDERED CEREMONIOUSLY UNCLEAN ACCORDING TO LEVITICAL LAW. AS THEY WENT TO SHOW THEMSELVES TO THE PRIEST, THEY WERE CLEANSED. JESUS GAVE THEM A COMMAND TO "GO", THIS WAS A TEST OF FAITH. THEIR HEALING HAPPENED WHILE THEY WERE ON THEIR WAY TO THE PRIEST. ONLY AFTER THEY WERE CONFIRMED BY THE PRIEST, THAT THEY WERE HEALED, COULD THEY BE RE-INTEGRATED BACK INTO SOCIETY.. PEOPLE WITH LEPROSY ARE CONSIDERED TO HAVE A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE AND HAD TO ISOLATE THEMSELVES FROM SOCIETY DUE TO THE DISEASE. HOWEVER, ONLY ONE OF THE NINE MEN RETURNED TO GIVE JESUS THANKS, AND HE WAS A SAMARITAN (A FOREIGNER). HE THREW HIMSELF AT JESUS' FEET, "PRAISING GOD IN A LOUD VOICE" AND GIVING HIM THANKS.

11/25/25