Category: Turn Your Radio On 2024

Broadcast

                     The Righteous Branch - Part 2
                              Isaiah 11:2
                              01/02/2024


        2    And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
             the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit
             of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and
             the fear of the Lord.  (ESV)

        This week, as we prepare for Epiphany, also known as the
   ``Gentiles' Christmas,'' the readings which we heard in the
   Divine Service tell us about the identity of Jesus.  We know that
   Jesus, as truly human, was a descendant of King David, which
   fulfilled several prophecies written half a millenia before His
   birth.

        Jesus is also the Son of God, as we are reminded in one of
   the most famous verses in the Bible, ``For God so loved the world
   that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in
   Him should not perish but have everlasting life.''2

        Isaiah wrote of the Messiah, Jesus, the promised Savior:
   ``And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
   wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the
   Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.''

        Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, being one with Him as
   part of the Trinity.  Therefore, Jesus had complete knowledge of
   God, and understood all the mysteries of God.  He was present at
   creation and all things were made through Him.  As a result, with
   perfect understanding, with the creative power of God, Jesus as
   true man lived perfectly according to God's law.  Only as true
   God could Jesus perfectly keep the law.  Only as true man could
   His keeping of the law redeem us from sin and death.

        May our Lord grant us the grace to know, accept, and trust
   in Jesus as the incarnate Son of God who has earned for us the
   forgiveness of our sins.  Amen.

       ____________________

       2. John 3:16

Broadcast

                     The Righteous Branch - Part 1
                              Isaiah 11:1
                              01/01/2024


        1    There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of
             Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear
             fruit.  (ESV)

        Today is the eighth day of Christmas, the day the church
   remembers that Jesus was circumcised and named according to the
   ceremonial laws given by God to Moses.  As Jesus shed His first
   drops of blood on our behalf, He took upon Himself the guilt and
   punishment of our sin.  Even on the eighth day of His life, Jesus
   was our Savior from eternal death.

        Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet
   Isaiah spoke of the Savior as coming from the family of Jesse,
   King David's father.  Even though the events which followed
   Isaiah's prophecy seemed to show that King David's dynasty was
   obliterated, there remained descendants of the King who were poor
   and humble.

        Isaiah wrote: ``There shall come forth a shoot from the
   stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.''
   Both Matthew and Luke show that Jesus was descended from David.
   The angel Gabriel told the virgin Mary, ``And behold, you will
   conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name
   Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most
   High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father
   David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of
   his kingdom there will be no end.''1

        Happy New Year, the long-promised Savior is born and has
   taken on your sins and mine.  May our Lord grant you a blessed
   new year, and may you grow in faith towards God.  Amen.

  ____________________

   1. Luke 2:31b-33 (ESV)