God's plan

“It is finished.”

Read: John 19:17-30
Text: Verses 28-30

All of these passages which show the different ways that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures do not only give us insight into the meaning of Jesus and his death, they also give us insight into the meaning of history itself. These connections to the Old Testament all are making the point that history is the unfolding of God’s plan that is centered on Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

So, fear God. Stand in awe of him. Stand in awe of what he is doing even when you cannot understand it. And realize how small you are, if all the nations are like a piece of dust on a scale. God is working towards something beautiful in human history and you and I are a very small part of that. And our role is to rejoice in what God is doing and focus on his significance and not our own. As Paul writes in Romans 11, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

John the Baptist and the Promise

Read: Luke 1:5-25

The underlying truth here is that sin is the cause of all misery and salvation from sin is the cause of the greatest possible joy. The underlying truth here is that separation from God is the cause of all misery and reconciliation with God is the cause of the greatest possible joy. This is what Advent and Christmas are all about for the people of God who are waiting for the coming of the Lord – both those who were waiting for the first coming and those who are now waiting for the second coming.
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

A Summary of the Joseph Story

Now this idea of God overriding evil and bringing good out of evil is a very important theme in the Bible. In God’s plan for the salvation of the world he is going to do that again and again. He uses evil in many ways to bring good as he did with Joseph and his brothers. The most important instance of this idea is the death of Jesus. Those who killed Jesus meant evil. The death of Jesus was a monstrous injustice. And yet it was also part of God’s plan for the salvation of his people and the renewal of the whole creation.
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Jacob Blesses Judah

Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”
This is what Jacob predicts of the king who would come from the line of Judah whom we know as Jesus Christ. He is beautiful to his people. And the beauty is not a physical beauty, but the beauty of holiness and the beauty of the glory of God and the beauty of the victory that he has won.
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra