12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Although we can apply this verse to any kind of sin, it won’t hurt to remind ourselves of the theme of the chapter: Do not let go of Christ as the sacrifice for all of our sins. The word for “turn away” here is the Greek word apostenai, which in the form of a noun becomes our word apostasy, “falling away from faith.” When the Hebrew believers seemed on the brink of returning to the Old Testament sacrifices in place of Christ, the direness of the situation became evident: Anything we do that turns away from Christ—even going back to the Law of Moses which prefigured Christ—actually rejects Christ. Or, as Paul told the Romans, everything that does not proceed from faith is sin. For us, to observe an Old Testament law but reject Christ would still be a sin.
We turn our hearts toward our living God, because of what Christ did for us. The glory of the birth of Jesus at Christmastime is the glory of God given to mankind. God gave us his Son because he loves us (John 3:16), but he also did it for his own sake. The Holy Spirit said through Micah, “But you, Bethlehem Ephratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel…” God gave us his Son for our sake, but also for the sake of his own name. God keeps every one of his promises, and he had promised the Messiah since the beginning of time to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and his descendants, to Judah, to David and Solomon, and finally to Joseph and Mary. And his Son came, for us.
The living God was born in a small town about five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Bethlehem means “house of bread.” It lies on the main highway between Hebron and Egypt. It was also known as Ephratha to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the north (in the tribal territory of Zebulun) about seven miles northwest of Nazareth. King David was born there, and anointed there as King of Israel. There was also a small caravan inn called Geruth Kimham in Bethlehem (Jeremiah 41:17) which was the starting place for many who journeyed to Egypt. Geruth Kimham was probably named for the man Kimham who crossed over the Jordan with King David after Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 19:31-40). Perhaps Kimham later set up an inn that still bore his name five hundred years later. It was probably the only inn in a town the size of Bethlehem, and so it is probably there that Joseph and Mary stopped to find a room.
There was no room in that inn for them, but we have made room for Christ in our hearts and our lives. Come, Lord Jesus.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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