Whispers of a Divine Conspiracy

Jeremiah 33:14-16

¹⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.  ¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.  ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.  This is the name by which it will be called:   The LORD Our Righteous Savior.’”

Just time to share a few Christmas thoughts from blogger Joe McKeever: 

“My friend Bryan saw [God’s providence]. Aboard a plane to Salt Lake City, Bryan got acquainted with his seatmates, a mother and her ten-year-old daughter. The lady found it intriguing that Bryan was a minister and peppered him with questions. Eventually, Bryan shared his story with her—of how Jesus Christ had changed everything about his life—and ended up praying with them both as they invited Jesus to become their Savior.

That’s when the lady told Bryan why they were headed for Utah.

She had been separated from her husband for two years due to his drinking problem, but he had conquered the bottle, and they were going to try marriage again. “He needs the Lord, too,” she said. “When we get to Salt Lake City, would you mind talking to him about this?”

Bryan was more than willing. In the airport, they met the husband and found out that minutes earlier, as he was waiting for the plane, a furloughing missionary had sat down beside him and led him to faith in Jesus Christ. God had arranged the schedules of two ministers on opposite sides of the world to get this family in the kingdom.

The story of Jesus’ birth is lined with Heavenly coincidences. A Roman census moves Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem just in time to fulfill a 500-year-old prophecy that the Messiah would be born there. Shepherds found the stall where the Lord was born, and breathlessly announced that they had seen a sky-full of angels proclaiming his birth. Foreigners chasing a star showed up bearing gifts, gold among them, just in time to finance the family’s hasty flight to Egypt.

God was moving Heaven and earth to get you and me into the Kingdom.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ came together at a moment in time when the Greek language and Roman highways and disillusionment over the old religions flowed together to create an ideal situation for spreading this message.

Coincidence? No, just a sovereign God on the job.  –  (Joe McKeever, “God Winks,” Leadership Weekly (12-18-02) 

 This “divine coincidence” was predicted in the book of Jeremiah.  A righteous branch would spring up out of Jesse… and He would become our righteousness.  These whispers of a heavenly conspiracy would be fulfilled in the life of Jesus.    “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”