The Longest Journey – Part 1

  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law Galatians 4:4 ESV

On the night Jesus was born the shepherds had followed long dark pathways down from the hills where they had been watching the flocks. Joseph and Mary had wearily journeyed all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem at just this right time. Farthest of all came the wise men who had journeyed all the way from the east. But of all who were there in Bethlehem no one had traveled father than the one for whom they came.

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The shepherds came at the time they heard the angels. The wise men journeyed at the time they saw His star appear. Mary and Joseph arrived when the time was completed for the birth of the child. How interesting that Jesus also came at just the right time,

 

It was at His chosen hour that God sent His Son. It was the longest journey from the place of the pure love of God to a world where King Herod ordered the execution of innocent children. It was an enormous distance from the halls of worshiping angels to a stable with the snorting of cattle and the rustle of mice in the hay. But at God’s exact day and hour Jesus came. He could wait no longer. Our dark and cold world awaited Him as angels stood on tip-toe to witness His birth. He came as hope when all our hopes had been wrapped in night. He arrived in the natural pains of child birth and but He opened His eyes His journey was only just beginning.

The Road that Leads Home

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  Luke 15:20 ESV

Jesus told this story not just to eulogize one father long ago but to explain how God is looking for us today. Imagine with me God getting off His throne, walking out the door then looking down the long road from heaven to earth. He is not watching to find out what we have done wrong (He already knows). God is looking to see if today is the day we have decided to come home.

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