Glad Tidings of Great Joy: Good News of an Enduring Hope

By Stan Lemke

The Bible is Gods gift of love to the world. It is centuries of history acting as a faithful witness to the fact that God keeps His promises, every one. Glad Tidings of Great Joy explores five of these wonderful promises, that through these, we might celebrate Him all the more!

For God so loved explores what it means to believe even as God promises that all who believe on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Come and See explores the meaning of faith wherein God has promised that we are saved by grace, through faith. Faith is not blind; rather it is founded on the truth of Gods Word and anchored in the proofs (the evidence) of everything He has shown us through it! Come and see

God with us is a refreshing look at Psalm 23 wherein David gives us a vivid and vibrant picture of life with God; Gods promise to ever be with us!

Unto us a Child is Born is a study of Gods first and greatest promise, the promise given to Adam and Eve whereby redemption and reconciliation would be ours through the Seed of the woman. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus birth, and the basis of our faith that He will similarly keep all of His promises!

Our God reigns is a glorious picture of Jesus, He who holds the keys of Death and Hades; He who stands strong, victorious, our Savior; the everlasting Lord of lords and King of kings, our amazing God!

Glad Tidings of Great Joy is good news of enduring hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973637967

Stan Lemke

Stan Lemke is committed to rigorous Bible Study and has written the following books: Walking with the Master, A Matter of the Heart, The Word of the Cross, and now Glad Tidings of Great Joy.

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Copyright © 2018 Stan Lemke.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Unless otherwise indicated, scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)

Copyright © 2001 by Crossway,

a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

All rights reserved.

ESV Text Edition: 2016

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3795-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3797-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3796-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910097

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/28/2018

Dedication

To the Loving Memory of my father

For whom it was my greatest honor

To share the Blessed Word

Of Jesus Christ our Lord!

Additionally, Sincerest thanks:

To my daughter Amy

For her many hours of editing support!

And to my daughter Carrie

For the great cover picture!

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

For God So Loved…

Come, and See…

God With Us

Unto Us A Child Is Born

Our God Reigns!

Epilog – The Race

Introduction

Glad Tidings of Great Joy! Unusual words, perhaps, but exciting words nevertheless, because while there are many types of good news, glad tidings of great joy speaks to the very best of these. Glad tidings defines an event, a happening in which we receive the key to a new and magnificent future. This is the long awaited announcement we’ve so dearly wanted to hear, a life changing message that brings with it good news of a hope, and a joy, that stretches far beyond our grandest dreams!

In 1969, and for several years thereafter, the United States Selective Service (otherwise known as the Draft) held a lottery to determine the order in which young men who turned twenty years old would be called up to serve their country in support of the military action being taken in Vietnam. I turned twenty while going to college. I was dating a wonderful young lady who would one day become my wife. The war was not going well. Everybody knew someone who had served and died over there. It was unnerving to think that a random lottery had the power to impact my life and thus change all of my plans… or worse, set it on a new course that would bring these aspirations to an abrupt and violent end.

It seems like only yesterday, the doctor got up and walked towards us, all the while staring at the floor. I’m sorry! he said. We’ve done everything we can, but your daughter is not responding to the antibiotics; she is dying. He hesitated briefly. Would you like to hold her, during these last minutes? This wasn’t supposed to happen. Her life was just beginning! We looked into her soft, beautiful face, and as the minutes passed, Beth died in our arms. How can one express the pain of holding your little baby girl, tears streaming down your face, and watching, as her labored breaths grew fainter, and fainter, and fainter…?

Cancer, the word knocks the wind right out of you – especially when it’s your own doctor trying to explain a complicated, and potentially life threatening situation to you, even as he says, Yes, it’s operable. And we caught it early; so there is every reason to be hopeful about this procedure.

Good news you say? But it is during times such as these, when life itself is in the balance, that the things we once considered to be good news, things we pursued with anticipation; a better job, a new house, or an exciting vacation – have little appeal. For what good are they, if we are gone? It is in times such as these that many of us begin to ask other questions: What is life really about? What truly is important? What lay behind the veil, the dark curtain of death? And there is no shortage of answers to our questions, in fact the shelves are lined with books offering up their ideas and claiming to know… So we must add yet another question to our list: How can I know what is right, and true?

People determine what is right and true in many different ways. Some will argue that truth cannot be known, some will argue that truth is what you want it to be. Some people go with popular opinion, following the crowd. Some people look to role models, to those who seem to be successful, in order to get their insights and guidance in such things. Some people go with whatever makes them feel good about themselves and their situation, whatever seems to make sense. Sadly, none of these criteria really answers the question: How can I know what is right, and true?

What is right and true is that which will stand strong, when everything else has failed. There is a truth, a truth that we can know whereby we can answer the questions: What is life about? What really is important? And what lay behind the veil of death? But even as I begin to suggest that, to understand this truth, we must look to the Bible, many people will turn away in disgust declaring that the Bible and religion is intellectual suicide and a crutch from the Dark Ages… to which I say: Yes, and no. Yes, religion is both intellectual suicide and a false crutch, but the truth of God’s word from the Bible is not about religion. Religion is an established set of beliefs defining what we must do to receive the things we want, whereas the Bible is the revelation of who God is, what He has already done for us, and what He has promised to do! The Bible does not prescribe a set of prerequisites by which we can earn God’s blessings; rather, it strongly warns us that it is impossible for us to earn God’s favor. What the Bible teaches us, is that even though we’ve rejected Him as our God, that God so loved the world (us), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the pinnacle of good news, for here we are told that death is not the end; but that by God’s own actions – He offers us an escape, a gift, everlasting life! Wow! But, how do we know that this is true? Because, and as we shall learn, through the Bible God invites us all to come and to see; that is, to test His words.

Still, there is something that we need to understand about good news. Good news doesn’t come wrapped in Velcro and adhesive; it doesn’t automatically stick to us, or miraculously change the world we live in just by our hearing it. Rather, like a life preserver floating past a drowning man, good news is something that we must grab onto, hold, and use! Like an inheritance check, it does us no good until we cash it and use it.

My life going from high school to college was, in a word, uneventful. I had decided to go to the University of Illinois in pursuit of an Engineering degree following many months of prayer and looking at various other schools. I was not terribly concerned with the Selective Service lottery when it came up. One of three things would happen: 1) I might get a low number, in which case I had already decided that I would enlist in the Army and then return to college, God willing, after serving my country. 2) I might get a middle-ranged number, in which case I would continue in school, but be prepared to be drafted sometime in the coming year. Or 3) I would get a high number, reassuring me that God had indeed established this path for my life and Sharon’s! On that day, we awaited the outcome of the lottery with anticipation. My Selective Service lottery number came up 334 out of 365, meaning that 91% of all men turning twenty years old would have been drafted before it was my turn to serve. A random lottery – not so much in God’s eyes! Good News? Absolutely! There was no question with this number. No doubt. No room for interpretation. No uncertainty. Thus, I grabbed it as God’s promised assurance and blessing, and Sharon and I made bold and prayerful plans for graduation, marriage, and a life together.

Sharon’s battle with cancer can only be described as (spoiler alert) – miraculous! Responding to what one can only describe as a nudge from the Holy Spirit, Sharon went to see her doctor for an unscheduled wellness checkup. During the visit, he reassured her that everything looked just fine, but a week later he called her back for the cancer talk and then proceeded to schedule her for immediate surgery. The procedure went well, recovery went well, and now almost ten years later she has been declared a cancer survivor. Not just good news, but great news! What assurance to know that God is so close as to warn us of such dangers, and then stays with us to help us navigate through dark and uncertain waters! Yes, good news that we can place our confidence in the One who, in grace and love, leads us every day. Blessed good news, a gift from God – truly something to grab onto and to hold most tightly!

Jesus told the disciples, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14) This is the good news that I grasp when I think of Beth, for in this tender action Jesus demonstrated a special grace and blessing towards our young children and babies. And even though Sharon and I struggled to get through the long dark days that followed her death, and still tear up at the memories, we know that when the Lord calls us to heaven to be with Him, that Beth will also be there, and that together we will all (even as a family) worship and praise Him for His immeasurable love!

Glad Tidings of Great Joy! explores five expressions – five promises of good news that God has prepared and offers to each of us. Promises of love, promises of guidance and protection and comfort, promises of forgiveness, of grace, and of salvation! But these are not merely encouraging words; they are the keys by which God gives us an enduring hope of a new and glorious future – a future in Him! Thus, we will explore each of these promises so that we understand that they are real, that they are life changing, that they are a gift of love that only God can give us, whereby we might be bold enough to grab onto them and to use them, and so experience the fullness of God’s blessing – even in the midst of these very troubling and turbulent times!

Lesson one entitled: For God so Loved… comes from John 3:16. Here John beautifully captures God’s amazing expression of love as He declares: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish – but have everlasting life. The reality of sin is such that each of us has turned away from God in the choices that we have made, and thus we rightly deserve the sentence of death pronounced against us. But God has given us this promise, declaring that through the intervention of His Son (Jesus), who went to the cross and died in our place, we (all who believe), will be given eternal life! What an amazing promise of hope and victory! But just what does it mean – to believe? What do we need to believe? Moreover, who will help us to believe? These are some of the questions that we will address and answer as we explore the life changing good news of God’s love for each of us!

Lesson two entitled: Come and See explores the meaning and nature of faith. As such we shall come to understand that while those who walk by faith do not walk by sight, they also do not walk blindly. The Lord gave instruction to the disciples (and us) through various signs and wonders, that is, with tests and proofs whereby we can see and know who He was and is – so that we might then both believe, and trust Him. We will therefore look at the messages and lessons that Jesus taught through some of these, His greatest miracles: water transformed into wine, the healing of a Roman Centurion’s servant and a paralytic who was brought to Jesus by four friends, the calming of the raging wind and waves, and the most amazing and exciting miracle of all – our Lord’s resurrection. Through this we will see that faith is the maturing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as belief, rooted in the truth of God’s Word bears fruit – whereby we become the people that God has intended us to be: followers of His dear Son, Jesus!

Lesson three entitled: God with Us looks at what it means to live and abide daily within God’s presence. As such, we will take a fresh new look at the very familiar verses of Psalm 23 and through it examine David’s relationship with God. This is a Psalm which beautifully encompasses the fullness of David’s life as he battled loneliness and depression, as he faced temptation and sin, as he stood before powerful enemies; as he experienced God’s hand of blessing and His hand of chastisement; as he celebrated great victories, and as he was humbled by terrible defeats. And yet, through it all, David recognized that whatever his situation, that God was ever present, guiding, guarding, directing, blessing – always at his side. Indeed, blessed good news (amazing, life changing news) that God has also promised you, and me: God, also with us!

Lesson four entitled: Unto us a Child is Born! is the study of the awesome mystery held within God’s first promise – the promise of restoration which He gave to Adam and Eve in the garden. Here, we will study God’s singular plan of redemption, established even before creation began, wherein our Savior would be revealed through the Seed of a woman, a humble human child, a baby – and yet, at the same time, the fullness of the eternal God! Christmas is the celebration of God’s good news, not just because the child was born, but because in this event God’s first and greatest promise was kept! Accordingly, we can be most confident, that He will certainly keep all of His promises!

Lesson five entitled: Our God Reigns is a study of the first chapter of the Book of Revelation. Here we are given a portrait of Jesus unlike any other presented in the Bible. No longer just the Lamb, no longer the humble Servant, but Jesus revealed as He is now, and as He will be forever more: our great High Priest and glorious King. Moreover, we shall see that it is He, Jesus, who holds the keys to Death and Hades – that He is the One who will bring an end to sin and rebellion; who will make all things right. Jesus told His disciples that He would return to the earth in great power and glory to bring judgment upon the nations; He also promised to return that He might gather up His church – thus we will look both at Jesus’ instruction to the disciples concerning His Second Coming, and to His word imparted to Paul concerning the Rapture. God has, in His mercy, given us a most powerful picture of Jesus Christ, the victor, the One of whom we declare: Our God reigns!

Glad Tidings of Great Joy is a message of good news, of life changing news for a troubled world. May we be blessed by His presence as together we study His word; to thus understand and embrace the enduring hope that He has given us – in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! Amen!

Lesson 1

For God So Loved…

A man returning from Europe invited several of his friends to his home to view a piece that he’d purchased while away. Rumors had spread quickly among them concerning what this might be. Anxiously they gathered around him to watch as he proudly hung a framed portrait in a prominent location on the wall. The friends, with puzzled looks, viewed his treasure with curiosity, but struggled to find the right words to express their thoughts. Perhaps this was just a joke? The picture was very plain, a black and white image of a young girl holding a small bouquet of flowers. In fact, it appeared to be a simple commercial reproduction of some sort.

Shaking his head the man pulled down the picture and tore the portrait from the frame. Then he restored the frame to its prior position. "Now