Advent---The Blue Ridge Summary

[HKHaugan]

Preserving the beauty of Creation, putting people to work and building an accessible road through the mountains. The parallel? God’s vista, God’s plan and God’s journey. It is the invisible made visible, the unseen seen and the eternal God present.

The first, God’s vista, is to experience the God who made all existence by seeing all things in the spiritual context of Jesus Christ and His endless reality from which they came.
The second, God’s plan, is to work in that Creation thinking spiritually, relating spiritually and acting spiritually.
The third, God’s journey, is to let the Holy Spirit pave the way to each heart in every next moment. Here are examples in prophecy.

First, God’s vista is prophesied, ““This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD,
who has made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself…(Is.44:24 NIV).”


Second, God’s plan is prophesied, “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities. (Is.54:2-3 NIV).”

Third, God’s journey is prophesied, “1 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
2 I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name (Is.45:1-3 NIV).”

Now set your gaze on the spiritual horizon He has set before us about Jerusalem, which symbolizes every spiritual community formed in Jesus’ name and Cyrus who is really anyone submitted to His purposes,
“‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,
and I will dry up your streams,’
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

And now our personal spiritual Blue Ridge is in the works, in the mind of God and in our life together, so pray this prophetic command from God,
“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
I, the LORD, have created it (Is.45:8 NIV).”

God bless you all. May we make this a Blue Ridge Advent so that when He returns He will find faith on the earth…><>Whitey