Day 5 - FOUNDATION STONES IN A YEAR

Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7; Luke 1:26-38

“Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean that it's nonsense,” said Lemony Snicket. And doesn’t this just apply too well to the whole concept of Immanuel, God in the flesh, the omnipresent God of Heaven being born in a restricted time and place on Earth. 

On page 3 in the Foundation Stones Participant’s Workbook we read,  

A building without a foundation is scarcely worth constructing. This is the case in your Christian life unless the most vital foundation of them all is firmly laid - Immanuel, God With Us. 

It is wrong to think of the incarnation as a New Testament concept. As our readings for today clearly show, God’s prophets had been speaking about the Mighty God and Everlasting Father somehow being born, for centuries before the actual advent of Jesus. 

Long before Jesus stepped onto the stage of this world his Father had already put in motion His plan for the redemption of mankind. He had laid a prophetic foundation in His Word. A sinless sacrifice was all that could appease the wrath of God. God and his Son knew it would require the Son of God taking on the form of a man, being born a man, growing up as a man and dying as a man. 

Jesus, the Son of God, embraced his destiny and became the sinless sacrifice of reconciliation, thereby laying a rock-solid foundation for our redemption.  Oh, that vital Cornerstone! Begin your new year the way you mean to continue, by bowing your knee in humble adoration and thankfulness to the one who did it all. For you. 

Prayer

My Father God, reveal Your Son to me again, by Your Spirit, that I may truly see the rock of my salvation.

For the family

Explain this study in an age-appropriate way, using several Lego (or similar) blocks. Build a wall demonstrating that the upper blocks must have the lower blocks to rest upon, otherwise they do not have a foundation and nothing can stand.