God Hears Christmas FearsSample

In Luke 1:26, we are told that Gabriel the angel was sent by God to a small town in the Galilee region of Israel called Nazareth. On our Israel trips, we spend some time overlooking Nazareth. The place that we visit is a precipice. If you read the story of Jesus, you find that later in His life He went back to His boyhood home and preached in the synagogue. His preaching was so strong that they wanted to kill Him by throwing Him off the precipice. Miraculously, He walked right through the angry crowd and escaped. 

Nazareth was a place where Jesus would grow up and where His earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter. The Greek word “carpenter” is tekton. When we use the word “architect”, you can hear the word tekton. Tekton is “the builder”, and arch is “the chief”, so an architect is "the chief builder". 

Though we usually think of Jesus and His earthly father, Joseph, as workers of wood, they could also have been workers of masonry or even metallurgy. Either way, they were exceptionally talented. It was not the lowest of all jobs. It was probably what we would consider a middle-class life, but it was an interesting upbringing. 

Remember, Israel had not heard from God for 400 years. There was 400 years of silence from the last prophecy in the last book of the Old Testament up to this point. That was a big gap. This was a nation that had heard from God all the time. It was the place where God spoke to men and women, and they gave us the Scriptures. 

Today, God does not speak to us through angels, but through His Word. Believer, have you been neglecting His Word? It is always a good time to get back into the Word, but especially in this Christmas season, take some time, open your Bible, and ask God to speak to you through His love letter to you.