Digging Deeper into Sixth Covenant

Dear Reader,
Imagine that you are a shepherd or a shepherd’s wife, living a simple, even meager, life in the humble little village of Beth-lehem. But that doesn’t matter because you have what’s most important to you—your beloved family, complete with a flock of children to bring you joy, and villagers who are dear friends.

Six miles away is the ostentatious city of Jerusalem. Yet only the shepherds who drive the sacrificial lambs to the Temple go there routinely. You are happy just to live out your existence in Beth-lehem, away from the eyes of the evil Herod, king of the Jews. His very name makes you shudder. You’ve heard the stories of what happens to those he considers a threat to his throne. At night you gaze up at the stars and ask: “When, Lord, will you come to us?” Like all of your people, you long for the Messiah to descend to earth and make all wrongs right.

Then, after so many years of waiting for Him, the Messiah arrives. But not in Jerusalem, where you had expected! No, He arrives in your humble village, in the form of a tiny, frail baby, born in a lambing cave, surrounded by bleating sheep. Ah, the wonder of it! The fulfillment of all the prophecies of old—announced by the miraculous conjunction of the stars!
Your mind swirls with questions, stirs with hope. Can it be true? Can the Son of God truly be “among you”? Have you read the signs in the heavens correctly? And, if so, why would the King of all kings arrive as a baby, in a manger? And why in Beth-lehem?

When do you think of Yeshua? Do you believe Him to be God, or is He just a good man who helped others and performed magic tricks? Is He truly the One who fulfills ancient prophecies—God come to earth—or are the “matches” to prophecy merely coincidences? What you believe about the birth of Yeshua affects everything about your life now . . . and your eternity.

Following are six studies. You may wish to delve into them on your own or share them with a friend or a discussion group. They are designed to take you deeper into the answers to questions such as:
*Are there really messages in the stars?
*Was Yeshua just a baby—or God in human form?
*Is there a plan for the universe—and your life?
*What does it mean to truly “walk with God”?
*What are you waiting and hoping for?
*What is the greatest longing of your heart?

Through Sixth Covenant, may the promised Messiah come alive to you . . . in more brilliance than ever before.

1
Revealed by the Heavens?
“I and my colleagues—Melchior of Ecbatana and the others from all the wide world—have studied signs in the heavens that confirm this prophecy has come to pass. It has been fulfilled. Messiah has been born, and we go to Yerushalayim to seek him.”
—Balthasar (p. 176)
Do you believe that messages could be written in the heavens? that the stars could reveal truth—things that Someone larger than us would want us to know? Why or why not?
What is the difference between worshipping the heavens and worshipping the creator of the heavens? Explain.
For nearly a year, Melchior, a court astronomer, and Balthasar, his mentor, had observed a series of heavenly events that had never before been recorded. Both became convinced that the long-awaited Messiah of prophecy had been born. But can the movement of the stars prove such a thing?

READ
Nine months previously though, Mars—called by the Jews Ma’Adim, or The Adam—had nestled close to the heart of The Virgin, next to Porrima, The Star of Atonement.
It was a sign, Old Balthasar had said. It was a reminder that the One True God, Yahweh, had not forgotten His covenants with His people.
And that had been only the beginning of the wonders.
Since then Jupiter—which the Jews named Tzadik, The Righteous—had carried on a complex dance with Saturn—Shabbatai, The Lord of the Sabbath. The two planets had combined and recombined three times between May and December. What was more, those two bright lights spent all three seasons preceding this winter enmeshed in the sign of The Two Fish. The Two Fish, Old Balthasar instructed, was where events related to the Jews were written in the sky.
Nor was the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn the sum of all the remarkable occurrences. Indeed, sign had followed sign, including an eclipse of The Lord of the Sabbath by the Holy Spirit, the moon.
To Old Balthasar, himself a Jew, and Melchior, a Gentile follower of Yahweh, God of the Jews, the parade of sights in the heavens foretold a momentous event. “A Messiah, a Deliverer, will be born to the Jews, and his coming will bless all the nations,” Balthasar had taught his protégé. . . .
Melchior did not know enough Jewish Scripture to vouch for that claim himself, but he did not need to. The golden light in tonight’s sky had been the culmination of the year’s revelations. It must be true. The predictions of Mosheh the Lawgiver and those of the prophets Dani’el, Isaias, and others aligned with the signs in the heavens.
It had to be so!
—pp. 14–15

ASK
If you saw one of these signs with your own eyes, what would that say to you? If you saw all these signs, what would they say to you?
Would you believe these connections to be coincidence or the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecies? Why?

READ
“So, storyteller, begin!” Zamaris commanded.
For the next hour Melchior recited the tales of the signs in the sky. . . .
“So all of you—Jew and Parthian, Ethiopian and Armenian—you’re all stargazers? I put no stock in it myself, but they say Caesar has astrologers on call day and night. Charlatans, I expect.”
Melchior’s blood began to boil at the accusation. A barbed reply formed on his lips before Balthasar waved him to silence and spoke. “Have you not heard, Lord Zamaris: ‘A star will come out of Jacob’? Astrologers say they can read the future in the stars. Nonsense or evil . . . take your choice. Either way, astrology is a tool of the Adversary to lead men from the truth. No. What we seek is confirmation of promises written in Torah. It is said the Almighty speaks his word in three places: in nature, in Torah, and in the life of Messiah. It is that Living Word we are seeking. We have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.”
—pp. 152–153
Rachel lay down and gazed at the bunches of lavender in the rafters. She tried to sort out her questions.
Mary had not been surprised to hear that angels had sung about the birth of her child. What mystery did Mary comprehend that no one else grasped?
—p. 36
News that angels had appeared to Beth-lehem’s shepherds was greeted by Mordechai, proprietor of the inn, with ridicule. He . . . sneered at his thirteen-year-old daughter as she told him the rumor. “Angels, eh?”
“So they say. A huge host of angels! I heard all about it at the souk when I bought the cabbages.”
“Huh! Dim-witted child that you are, you believe every word of it. Angels? Appeared to Zadok and Lem and the others? . . . Huh! Drunk . . . , I’d say! Heavenly visions of angels indeed!”
—p. 36

After Jesus was born in Beth-lehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
—Matthew 2:1-3

ASK
Which of these people most closely resemble you in your views toward “heavenly things”? Explain.
*Zamaris
*Balthasar
*Rachel
*Mary
*Mordechai
*Herod
What’s the difference between astrology and what Balthasar claims to be seeking?
How might the Almighty speak His word in nature? in the Bible? in the life of Messiah, Yeshua, the Living Word?

READ
“Tonight he’s just a baby. Tonight he’s sleeping beside his mother.”
It was a surprising thought. All along Melchior had studied the signs in the heavens in their grandeur and majesty. His thoughts had related to giving proper homage to a heavenly ruler, a figure of power and glory. But Esther was right. All those portents about the coming King pointed to . . . a child?
“A baby,” Esther repeated, as if reading Melchior’s thoughts. “Do you suppose those who are caring for him are looking at the stars, just as we are, and wondering what his future holds? . . . What can it all mean?”
—p. 17
Melchior saw the thinnest sliver of New Moon framed by the casement, and riding above the moon, Jupiter—The Righteous. They hung in the sky in the direction of the road to Beth-lehem.
It took Melchior a minute to realize what was wrong with the scene: Saturn was missing!
Realization dawning, Melchior thrust his left hand upward while gesturing excitedly for Balthasar to come and see. “The Sabbath! The Sabbath is again eclipsed by the moon, The Lord of the Sabbath wrapped in the Holy Spirit! But they will set in mere hours, and who can say when the weather will be clear again? You are right, Balthasar! We must go tonight! Now!”
—pp. 213–214
As they drew closer . . . , Esther grabbed Melchior’s arm and gestured forward, pointing just over the rooftops. “Look!” she demanded breathlessly.
Beneath Jupiter, The Righteous, beneath the moon, the light of the Holy Spirit, a new, inexplicable gleam appeared within the sign of The Two Fish. In the rapidly narrowing space between the moon and the horizon, a bulge appeared, swelled, grew, and detached itself from the moon till it was distinct and separate.
“What is it?” Esther murmured.
Melchior’s heart pounded in his chest. “It’s The Lord of the Sabbath!”
Saturn . . . appeared as a gleaming dot marking the rim of the world. Gently but clearly it anointed the roof of a house standing poised on the far ridge. . . .
And so, at the crucial moment, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
—pp. 215–216
The Magi had moved across the face of the earth as though a mighty wind pushed them. Now they stopped, certain they had come to the right place, as though the voice of the Almighty and Eternal God had spoken aloud: He is here!
Melchior fixed his gaze on the descending stars. It was as though they declared to his heart the answer to his question: Ki-Mah? Who made these?
The child, the Son of the Living God . . . the baby you have come to worship . . . the stars are His! He made them all! He knows them each by name! . . .
As he and Esther stood hand in hand, Melchior knew the end of his quest was within this humble home.
—pp. 217–218

ASK
If you were Melchior or Esther, following the signs in the heavens toward Beth-lehem, what thoughts would run through your mind? What emotions would you experience?
What forces of nature combined to “push” the Magi to the place where the child was? Do you find this believable? Why or why not?
If you had expected a Messiah who would descend to bring justice to a time of great evil, how would you respond to finding a baby in a manger?

WONDER . . .
“I am told you come from distant lands seeking one you say is born King of the Jews. Has he summoned you here? Did you come in response to his call?”
“Heaven’s call, Majesty,” Perroz explained. “Each of us has studied the stars. Each has reached his own conclusion. It so happens that all our conclusions agree.”
“And what are these so-called signs? No one in my kingdom seems aware of them.”
Balthasar spread his hands in a gesture of conciliation. “We cannot speak for others, Your Highness, only for ourselves.”
—p. 204
How will you speak for yourself in light of what’s revealed in the stars? In what ways will that revelation make a difference in your life today—and every day?
“Search the Scriptures for yourselves,” Balthasar suggested gently. . . . “And . . . we shall all know the truth.”
—p. 176

2
Oh, So Ordinary—or of God?
“So . . . ordinary seeming,” Eliyahu mused. “I mean the mother. Sixteen years old, I’d guess. And the father. A carpenter. Of the House of David. . . . It isn’t at all the way I thought it would happen. If it wasn’t for what we all saw . . .”
—p. 7
If someone walking the earth today claimed, “I am the Messiah,” what signs would prove to you—beyond all doubt—that claim was true?
What would you expect the Messiah of the whole world—the person who will bring hope and peace and justice for now and all eternity—to look like? to act like?
For centuries the Jewish nation had longed for the promised Messiah, the Son of God, who would bring ultimate peace and right all wrongs. They were expecting a mighty warrior—who would destroy all their enemies with a vengeful flash of the sword. Someone who would establish a showy, obvious earthly kingdom. Someone who would roust cruel rulers like Herod and bring justice.
Instead, God chose to arrive gently and quietly, in a way that few would guess or understand.

READ
The newborn was wide-eyed and quiet in the manger of the lambing cave. He raised His right arm, stretching tiny fingers toward the face of Yosef.
Such a calm, serious baby! The midwives marveled.
Mary, His mother, rested in fresh straw beside the makeshift crib. Yosef, earthly guardian of the Messiah, lovingly studied the infant’s features.
Let us make man in our own image.
Nearby an ox and a donkey munched fodder. Lambs and ewes slept in pens, unperturbed by momentous events. The elapsed time since The Eternal Son of God first drew breath as a Son of Man on earth could be counted by a single hour and a handful of minutes. Yet His true age was beyond time—everlasting—and thus beyond human comprehension.
—p. 3
Could it really be true, the shepherds wondered, that the Lord Almighty chose to express His love for Israel through the birth of a baby? Upon reflection it was decided that the best stories in Torah almost always began with the birth of a long-awaited son.

Yet tonight everything had seemed so ordinary: A young woman in labor urgently seeking shelter in a village packed with travelers. A baby boy born in the warmth of Beth-lehem’s lambing cave. It was hard to see the miracle in that.
Yet it was a miracle. The Son of God reached out to the world from the womb of a virgin as the prophets foretold. The first bleating cry of His voice was heard from the midst of firstborn male lambs destined for Temple sacrifice. Perhaps one day it would all make sense, but tonight the meaning remained a puzzle to the participants in the drama.
The brilliant transitory star that shone as first herald of the birth of the true King of Israel faded and vanished. . . . The rhythm of life in Beth-lehem resumed. . . . Those shepherds who had seen and heard the angels from the pastures of Migdal Eder scanned the skies and hoped for more heavenly proclamations to resound from the hills of the terraced amphitheater of Beth-lehem. . . .
But instead of angel voices, the soft song of the infant’s young mother drifted out to a dozen rough shepherds. “Hush, my babe, lie still and slumber. . . .”
—pp. 4–5
“Eliyahu says . . . such a night! What if angels come back and I sleep through it?”
“Angels have better sense than to go out a second time on such a night. So the baby is born. He looks like other babies. Eats like other babies. Needs washed and changed like other babies. I think heaven has said all it has to say about the wee King of Israel until he grows up.”
—Conversation between Havila and Rachel (p. 9)

ASK
What about the baby’s birth was ordinary?
What about the baby’s birth was unusual?
If you came upon the young mother, the baby, and the blue-collar father in the lambing cave, what would your first reaction be? Why?

READ
Eliyahu . . . stared into the cave. His voice broke as he groped for words. “One day we’ll be old, and they’ll ask us to tell the story of this night. . . .”
Zadok’s lower lip jutted out. “Have you ever seen such skin as angel faces? All aglow, like . . . like the luster of pearls on the crown of a prince!”
Eliyahu agreed. “And people will ask us what they said, word for word. What did we hear? Were we afraid?”

Zadok’s eyes widened. “Afraid? Aye, I was afraid. We’ll none of us forget where we stood or sat when they came. Or what we first thought when the light began to grow.”
Lem added, “Or the sound of it.”
Eliyahu glanced again at the entrance to the stable. “Angel voices. The rumble of earth and sky. And I! There by chance, standing watch with you. . . . Think what I might have missed!”
Zadok pulled his cloak close around his ears. “I’d sleep on the hard ground the rest of my life to see such a sight again! And hear their singin’ again! Aye! Nothin’ like it in all the earth. Not ever. It’s not a moment any of us will forget!”
—p. 6

“A week gone since the world changed.” Zadok turned his face to the heavens and closed his eyes. “Yet I see them still. Angels. Hear their voices singin’ hope t’ us poor fellows out in that field. Never expected it . . . not for me t’ witness. We were there. Just there.” . . .
“You. First witness,” Yosef murmured. “So it is you and Rachel must stand with me and Mary at the circumcision.”
Zadok’s eyes opened wide, and he lifted his staff to point in the direction of Jerusalem. “And this is what I say t’ the Fast of Nebuchadnezzar’s Siege. Aye, if I were a learned man, which I am not, I’d say the day of his circumcision is the very day the siege of darkness against all of us is finally broken. All the world will remember his Bris Milah and celebrate our freedom!”
—p. 71

ASK
Imagine you are a shepherd standing watch at night in a cold field. If an angel appeared to you, how would you respond? Would you be convinced of the angel’s message—or dubious? Why?
Do you ever feel as though there is a “siege of darkness” against you? If so, when? And what would it take for you to celebrate your freedom?

READ
“Ah, Yosef. I’ll make no lastin’ mark upon this world. Poor shepherds are no more remembered than sheep.” . . .
“Like me. Who’ll remember the name of a carpenter from Nazareth? But, Zadok, like you, I’ve heard the voices of angels! They call me to carry him on my shoulders. I’ll teach him how to make a beam level and smooth and how to drive a nail straight in with one blow. That’s all I have to offer.”
“Me! Stand as guardian at the Bris Milah of the Messiah. And my own Rachel support the mother of the King! . . . Herod would seek t’ kill him. . . . ,” Zadok reflected. “Till the end of my days I’ll not forget his heavenly troops shinin’ there above the field!”
“That’s why you must stand with us at the circumcision. You and your Rachel. Rachel, whose gentle hands helped guide the Lord into this world from olam haba.”
“Rachel. My own ewe lamb. Rachel. Aye. Now she’s worthy t’ stand as witness. She knows a mother’s heart. She knows what it means t’ bring forth life. Many’s the child she’s helped into this world. Seventy sons born in Beth-lehem over the last two years and my Rachel the midwife of them all. Seventy boys . . . may all grow up t’ serve their King!”
“It came to me and Mary . . . yes! She said the vision of your faces was clear in her mind as we prayed. The two of you as honored witnesses. You two on the right and the left at the circumcision. The shepherd and the midwife as we speak aloud the name for the first time. His name. The name the angel commanded we must call him. And you, Zadok, by standing there with us, pledge you’ll care for him if we should die? You’ll take him in so he’ll never be hungry or in want?”. . .
Zadok nodded. “Aye! I think often on the same thing. If I should perish, who would care for my widow and three children? ’Tis a worry when a man loves his family so much. Count on me, Yosef! That I can pledge to you. Me and Rachel . . . we’ll embrace the honor of guardin’ the wee lad with our very lives. Aye!”
Zadok . . . considered the glowering fortress of Herodium in the distance. “None of them dark hearts will harm one hair of his head or threaten his life while I breathe. Count on me, Yosef.”
—pp. 72–73

ASK
If you were looking for someone to raise your child in the event of your death, would you choose people like Zadok and Rachel? Why or why not?
Yosef, Zadok, and Rachel were ordinary people. Yet what special role did each play in the birth and early life of Yeshua?
*Yosef
*Zadok
*Rachel
What do you think God’s plan for your life is? In what area(s) can you uniquely influence the lives of others?

READ
Rachel observed the tiny infant sleeping in His mother, Mary’s, arms. Messiah! Light who shone in the heavens before the stars were created!

What message was contained in today’s reading? Would heaven speak on this first Shabbat after the birth of Messiah? . . .
“Vayigash! Draw near to me!” . . .
Yosef raised his eyes to gaze above the heads of the men as though he could see Mary and the Holy Child behind the latticework. His voice boomed across the auditorium, filling the space.
As he spoke, Rachel felt certain that from the beginning of time this moment had been ordained. On this day, in this place, Vayigash was the Torah reading that would announce God’s plan to redeem, deliver, and heal His broken relationship with man.
“Draw near to me!”
—pp 59–61

ASK
Why do you think God would choose to send a fragile infant to “redeem, deliver, and heal His broken relationship with man”?
How can you draw near to God?

WONDER . . .
Through thousands of years and countless generations, many men have claimed to be the Messiah, but each one has proved to be false. . . .
Here he is. Messiah. Son of David. Just a baby sleeping beside his mother in a little cottage. How can it be that The Eternal One is contained in a form that we can see with our eyes and hold in our arms? . . . He gazed to where the baby lay beside Mary. . . .
There he is. Real and wonderful. But how does it work? That the Immortal One, who has existed since before time, can inhabit a mortal body? How can this baby, who will be called son of Yosef of Nazareth, also be named Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace?
With that question still unanswered, Yosef fell asleep.
—pp. 87–88
What does a tiny baby, born all those years ago, have to do with you, today? Was He ordinary—or truly the long-awaited Messiah?
What you believe about the baby in the manger is the most important decision you will make.

3
The Grand Plan
“Do you think the Almighty, blessed be he, left any of this to chance? No, Zadok, no. In Beth-lehem the child was always to be born. And that means Rachel—and you and me too—were seen and made part of his plan from ages long past.”
—Eliyahu to Zadok (p. 27)
Is there a plan for everything that happens? Or do events occur by random chance? Explain.
Do you believe that you are part of a grand plan? that your part could be played by no one else? Why or why not?
Mary was a young mother from a poor village. Yosef was a simple carpenter, who made his living with his hands and didn’t claim to understand “higher things.” Zadok was a shepherd, and Rachel a shepherd’s wife. Yet all four, because of their obedience to and humble acceptance of God’s grand plan, played parts they would never have dreamed they might.
Ephesians 1:11 says, “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” What might God have in mind for you?

READ
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
—Micah 5:2
“Beth-lehem?” Herod pondered aloud. “Muddy, smelly village south of here? Place where the sacrificial lambs are raised? And this Anointed One is to be called a . . . shepherd?”
“Like King David,” one of the scribes blurted before Boethus waved him to silence.
—p. 197
“Aye. And now there’s a Prince and his mother in Beth-lehem! A Prince! Here! . . . Never again in my lifetime. A Prince of David comin’ to stay. The honor of it! Though why a Prince would come here to stay, I can’t say.”
—Grandmother (p. 19)

ASK
Why would God choose tiny, smelly Beth-lehem as the place where the Messiah would be born? List as many reasons as you can from the passages above . . . and add some of your own.
David, the shepherd, was from Beth-lehem. Yet he became the king of all Israel. In light of this background, why would it be especially unnerving to Herod that the Messiah could arrive in Beth-lehem?

READ
“Do y’ see this storm?” Zadok waved his staff overhead. “What if it had come before sunset, last evenin’, eh? What would have happened t’ the maid then? And the babe? I tell y’, Eliyahu, this won’t get over quickly. I know the feel. This is a big storm, this is. And a colder one I’ve never felt. It’s a time for pregnant ewes and newborn lambs t’ be in shelter, like in the lambin’ cave.”
—p. 27
“Cold night, eh? You should write how cold it were, Eliyahu. The night Messiah was born? Standin’ out here. Messiah picked the coldest, darkest night of the year to be born.”
—Lem (p. 6)

Suddenly somber, Zadok confided, “Yosef, you’re here for a purpose. It came t’ me strong, when I heard the babe’s name, that I must show you David’s Valley. And that marker . . .”
The big man pointed to a heap of stones on the opposite side of the enclave. “That marks a trail south. An unknown path. Only a few have traveled it. . . . The Spirit said t’ my heart, Yosef must know of it. Aye. And if there should ever be a need t’ escape . . . as it is written, the Red Sea parted and they walked across on dry ground.”
Yosef’s eyes narrowed as he took in the implication of Zadok’s revelation. A way of escape! But escape from what? from whom? He remembered Zadok’s words: “If there should ever be a need. . . .”
—pp. 150–151

ASK
What was the weather like the night Yeshua was born? What purpose(s) might this have had in God’s grand scheme?
Why was the unknown path important? And why might God have sent Yosef with Zadok on such a journey over a treacherous road into the valley ?

READ
Zadok—honest, hearty, generous Zadok—knew he had a temper and other failings. Was it possible the Lord God Almighty had prepared Zadok, a rough-hewn man at best, to receive the child sent to be the Restoration of Israel and the Light of the World?
It was too much. The wonder of the angelic announcement and the fulfillment seen in the babe in the manger were already enough. Making himself part of that miracle felt wrong, almost blasphemous. Zadok was prepared to testify to what he had been privileged to witness . . . but to be prepared by Yahweh to play a role in the event?
—pp. 27–28
“Your Rachel delivered the baby. Think of it! My Havila came along to help.”
“Our wives, Eliyahu. The long-desired babe not born in a palace. Not as we imagined Messiah would come. Our women washin’ him in water drawn from David’s Well and in Beth-lehem’s wine. Just as our own sons were washed. Our women, rubbin’ the royal Prince of God with salt . . . with their own hands. Anointin’ the Messiah with olive oil from our scruffy olive trees. ’Tis an honor.” . . .
—pp. 6–7
“They’ve opened their hearts to us, these people. Rachel. Zadok. Their boys. Havila and Eliyahu. All the rest. Is this why the baby was born here? why the angels spoke to the shepherds in the fields of Migdal Eder? So we would stay and live without the gossip we faced in Nazareth? raise him around people who don’t doubt the truth of our story?”
—Mary (p. 138)

ASK
If you were Zadok, would you believe God had chosen you to protect and house the Messiah? Why or why not?
What roles did the women of Beth-lehem—including Rachel, Havila, and Grandmother—play in God’s grand plan? Why was it important for Mary, Yosef, and baby Yeshua to stay in Beth-lehem among such simple folks?

Joshua 24:15 says, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Whom did Zadok, Rachel, Havila, Grandmother, and Eliyahu choose to serve? What differences can you see in their lives as a result? Whom would you rather serve—and why?

READ
You are Lord of All the Angel Armies from all eternity, Yosef thought, yet you rest in the arms of your earthly mother! . . . From before time, you chose her to carry you; to bear you in suffering; to love, protect, and care for you. What am I to learn, O Lord, from your willingness to be vulnerable? What is the lesson, Sovereign Lord, that you trust us with the life of your Son before we have learned to trust you with our lives? . . .
Yosef stammered, “. . . This is not what I intended. . . . I’m so sorry.” He raised his arms and let them fall in a gesture of helplessness.
“It’s as it should be. . . . Always meant to be.” She motioned for Yosef to come close . . . . “A fine stable. A night to remember! . . . Yosef, don’t you know? It’s why he was born. Why he chose to live with us. He’s here, like this, because you and I—everyone, I think—couldn’t imagine what he was really like.”
She kissed the baby’s head. “You see it, don’t you? . . . I’ve thought about it a lot. The why of it all. I knew the minute I saw his sweet face, looked in his eyes. He came to earth the same way we all have come. He came so you and I can see him and hear his voice and, yes, love him. He came to live in our family so we can learn how a family is meant to live. So we can care for his needs for a while and love him as our own child and let him love us—mother and father, aunts, uncles, and cousins—his family, you know? And I think he will show us how to forgive one another too. He came to us like this so we can rock him gently in our arms and sing to him. And you will carry him on your shoulders and never, never be afraid of him again.”
—Yosef and Mary (pp. 21–22)
Yosef understood why the Messiah had been born in the lambing cave. Why the angels had announced His birth first to the shepherds of the Temple flock. Why Yosef and Mary and Yeshua had been nurtured and cared for by the families of Beth-lehem. It was within the power of the Almighty to call upon the earth to weave a canopy of protection so thick that no man could lay a hand on Mary or the baby named Salvation. But The Eternal God had instead chosen a few righteous families in Israel to help preserve and protect His great plan of deliverance and salvation!
—p. 229

ASK
Why would God choose to send Yeshua, the Messiah, as a human baby?
Why would Yeshua, the Son of God, choose to live among flawed human beings?

WONDER . . .
“Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done. The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
—Psalm 40:5
You sorrowed at not having a worthy gift for the King? This moment is your gift. You are called to serve Him.
—The angel Gabriel to Melchior (p. 227)
Recount some of the things God has done for you. Then reflect on this question: What gift could you give Yeshua today?

4
Walking with God?!
“Adonai, the Lord, when he wanted to go on long walks and spend time with some pleasant human here on earth, he came down from heaven to Enoch’s house, and Enoch walked with him.”
—Zadok (p. 208)
If you had the opportunity to take a walk with anyone, whom would you choose—and why?
Do you spend time walking and talking with God regularly? Is God a part of your life
*every day?
*just on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays?
*when you’re in a crisis situation?
*not at all?
Explain.
Children were very special to Yeshua. Perhaps because their hearts are pure, their prayers are heartfelt, their minds are trusting, and they have no greater joy than to walk hand in hand with those they love.
What does it mean to truly walk with God? We can learn much from children about simple, trusting faith.

READ
The night before the baby’s circumcision ceremony was Leil Shimurim, which means “the night of protection.” Mary and Yosef followed the custom that had existed for 1,365 years since the Exodus. The sages taught that the mitzvah of Bris Milah was so spiritually important that the powers of darkness wailed and gathered together to prevent the circumcision of a newborn child of the covenant.
Young children, souls pure and unblemished, were invited into the household. Prayers from innocent hearts, it was said, pierced the heavens and formed a spiritual protection that called down blessings on the baby, the household, and the family.
—p. 79
Rachel coached Enoch in his name verse: “And Enoch . . .”
The boy frowned down at the baby and recited. “I am Enoch. And Enoch . . . walked . . . with Adonai . . . and was no more. . . . That’s ME. Baby! I’m Enoch!”
The baby Messiah wriggled in His mother’s lap and opened His mouth with an oh of approval.
—p. 79

ASK
Do you believe “prayers from innocent hearts” reach the heavens? Explain. Whom do you know who has an innocent heart?
Can you see God opening His mouth in an oh of approval about you? Why or why not?

READ
The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
—Psalm 121:8
“You don’t need gold to buy a place in the kingdom for your children and grandchildren. Your love for him is the only gift he will ever want.”
—Mary to Grandmother (p. 128)

ASK
If you had nothing to give Yeshua except for your love, would you consider that enough? Why or why not?
What difference would it make in your life if you asked God to “watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore”? Explain.

READ
Enoch recited his line to Yeshua. “Enoch . . . walked . . . with the Lord.”
Mary praised him. “Very good, Enoch! Someday maybe you’ll grow up to be a rabbi, eh?”
Enoch answered solemnly, “We’re going to fly away. Me. Samu’el. Dan. Obi. Everybody. To Yeshua’s house to play.” . . .
Among the little ones of Beth-lehem, from the newest baby up to Enoch’s age, there had been an almost supernatural contentedness, as if they knew they were in the presence of the Lord’s Anointed. Neither had there been illness in the village since the birth of Mary’s son.
Dan and Samu’el . . . clung to Mary’s chair. They gazed at Yeshua with undisguised fascination. It seemed so strange to Rachel that the boys were content to play quietly near Mary’s baby for hours on end. Even if angels had not announced that Yeshua was an extraordinary child, it was evident by the calming effect of His presence on those around Him.
Surely, Rachel thought, if Yeshua could stay here in Beth-lehem, grow up in the place where David had grown up, the angels would keep Him safe from Herodian plots. His name was Salvation, after all. And if the infant King of Israel was safe, it made sense that all the children of Beth-lehem would be blessed as well.
—pp. 172–174
“So it’s written: ‘And Enoch walked with Adonai the Lord; then he was no more, for the Lord took him away.”
The boy brightened. “Enoch flew. Me too. I’m going to heaven.” . . .
“‘Enoch walked with the Lord.’ Can y’ repeat that after Papa?”
The boy was silent.
Zadok urged him, “Enoch walked . . .”
“Enoch . . . walked . . .”
“with the Lord.”
“with the Lord.”
“Aye! Just like that! Well done, lad!”
The child beamed. “The Lord lives at Enoch’s house.”
—pp. 207–208

ASK
In what ways did Enoch and the other little boys in Beth-lehem “walk with the Lord”? What qualities characterized their young lives?
Is walking with God the same as the Lord living at your house? Explain.

READ
Enoch patted his father’s cheek. “The Lord lives . . . at Enoch’s house. Me and Samu’el . . . Obi. And Dan too. Going to his house to play.”
Zadok laughed and lifted him high. “There’s a good-hearted lad! An innocent heart! A better Enoch than the first Enoch. Not one of your playmates left out from the great journey when y’ fly away, eh? You’ll take all your wee friends and brothers with y’ too!”
—p. 209

“Every boy baby in Beth-lehem—no, that is not enough—every male child within the circle of Migdal Eder. Yes, that is it . . . all their lambs, eh? . . . Kill every boy age two and under. Do it tonight!”
—Herod (p. 235)
Enoch! Samu’el! Obi! These three were her whole life! Why was she afraid? Was God not a merciful God? Had they not walked with Messiah? borne Him in their arms? rejoiced that He had come? What was this unexplained terror that squeezed her heart as though it would be crushed?
“Mama?”

Enoch’s verse came to her mind with a new and terrible implication: And Enoch walked with God . . . and he was no more.
—p. 243
The Lord is my shepherd. . . . Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
—Psalm 23:1, 4

ASK
What kind of heart did Enoch have? How did he look at death? How do you look at death?
If you were Rachel, how would you grapple with the reality that your three boys—your only children and the joys of your heart—were part of what seemed like senseless slaughter? Would your faith in a good God—or any God at all—emerge stronger or weaker?
Does walking with God mean that you and your loved ones will be protected from pain and death? Use an example from your own life, if possible, to explain why or why not. When bad things happen, how could walking with God each day affect your long-range perspective on suffering?

WONDER . . .
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress then on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
—Deuteronomy 6:5-7
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.”
—Matthew 18:1-5
What does it truly mean to walk with God? How loving is your heart? How humble are you? How accepting of the little and lowly?
What needs to change in your heart and life so that, when your time to leave this earth comes, you will happily fly away to the Lord’s house?

5
Waiting for Fulfillment
“All my life I’ve been waiting for this day. The Almighty promised . . . and I’ve lived to see it come to pass.”
—Simeon (p. 29)
If only one remaining wish of yours could be fulfilled in your lifetime, what would that wish be—and why?
Have you ever lost hope that something good would happen? When? Tell the story.
It has been said that hope makes the soul live on even under the greatest of loads. The Jewish nation had been waiting so long and under such cruel tyranny for the promised Messiah that many had forgotten how to hope, even though they continued to pray to the Almighty, follow His commands, and even make a yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Messiah had become, for many, a figure of their spiritual history but had lost relevance for their daily lives.
In dark times in your life, you may have lost hope. You may have felt as if nothing good would ever come to you (or a loved one). Perhaps you’re feeling that way now.
Simeon is an old man. He has waited a lifetime for a promise to be fulfilled. Could the arrival of this baby be the answer he—and all the world—has been waiting for?

READ
All the shepherds of Migdal Eder . . . were brimming with the news. Well before sunup all the people of Beth-lehem had been roused and regaled with stories of astonishing sights, angelic announcements, and heavenly choirs. And now Zadok and Eliyahu were the advance guard of those carrying the news to the Holy City.
“To Simeon the Elder,” Zadok restated firmly. “First to him. That good, righteous old man. To him first, before any other. It’s only right.”
Simeon, an aged elder of Israel, was the keeper of many secrets having to do with the advent of Messiah. It was altogether fitting that he be the first outside Beth-lehem to hear the report.
—p. 28
“He’s here! The child of promise! He was born last night in Beth-lehem. I’ve seen him! Eliyahu too. Many others! You were right, Simeon. This was the year!”
Simeon’s frail, gnarled hands grasped both Zadok’s brawny forearms. “Is he here, indeed?” he asked urgently. . . .Then the story tumbled out. . . .

Simeon, eyes brimming with tears, sank onto a cushion on the floor. He rocked forward and back, apparently caught in the grip of emotion too powerful for words. Zadok . . . knelt beside him. Tears flowed freely down creviced cheeks and into Simeon’s snow-white beard. . . . “Just . . . give me a moment. All my life I’ve been waiting for this day. The Almighty promised . . . and I’ve lived to see it come to pass.”
—p. 29

ASK
Why did Zadok and Eliyahu go to Simeon the Elder first?
What was Simeon’s response to the news? Why?
If you had waited a lifetime for a certain event (perhaps for the birth or adoption of a child, for someone to love, for a friend to share your faith) to happen, and it did, how would you respond?

READ
Israel had sought the Messiah like men search for gold in the heart of a great mountain. Stone by stone the earth was overturned, yet the Eternal Treasure remained locked away. So many generations had longed to see His face that now most suspected the Messiah was only a legend.
But on this last night of Hanukkah the final candle had been lit.
For unto us a son is given.
A single gold nugget, washed from the heavenly mountain by the will of God, glinted in the flickering light. Hope was reborn. Redemption, for which the suffering world longed, was fulfilled in the cry of a newborn. By design of Yahweh, The Eternal, this babe was the guarantee that Eternal Treasure awaited all who called upon His name!
—pp. 3–4
At the rising of the sun this very day, the rising prayers of every righteous Jew since Father Abraham had been answered!
The merciful God of Jacob has responded at last. True Salvation, Yeshua, is born to be King in Israel!
—p. 20

ASK
Why was this baby considered “a gold nugget” and an “Eternal Treasure”?

Do you believe that “the rising prayers of every righteous Jew” were answered with the birth of Yeshua, meaning “Salvation”? Why or why not? If not, what signs would convince you?

READ
“What exactly—exactly, mind you—did the angel say?”
Eliyahu’s scholarly, trained memory stepped in. “His exact words were ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Messiah the Lord.’”
—Conversation between Simeon and Eliyahu (p. 30)
“‘Good news,’ the angel said, eh? Shemuah tov. Shemuah: an announcement, a report, tidings, yes. Sounds like the word for the heavens: shamayim. Tov: good news. So! A report so good as to be heavenly, true?”
Eliyahu nodded vigorously. “And where in Holy Scripture is such a phrase used except in—”
“Proverbs!” Simeon confirmed, gesturing at the scroll. “One place only! Listen: Like cold water to a weary soul is good news—shemuah tov—from a distant land! What a sense of humor has the Almighty, blessed be he! Heaven is indeed a ‘distant land’!”
“And that relates to a newborn Messiah?” Zadok questioned calmly. . . .
“Exactly!” Simeon praised, as if Zadok had uttered something profound. “See here what Isaias says of Messiah.” Simeon swept aside the Proverbs scroll to reveal one of the prophet Isaias. “I will make you a covenant for the people, to restore the land. . . . He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water!”
“Shemuah tov! Good news from heaven, indeed,” Eliyahu murmured. “Messiah refreshes our souls like a cool spring of water.”
“And further it says, I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
—p. 40

ASK
What signs from the above passages point toward the baby being the long-awaited Messiah not only of Israel but all the earth?
What shemuah tov—good news from a distant land—do you wait for today? Have you considered the possibility that Yeshua is the good news you have been waiting for? Why or why not?

READ
Yosef of Nazareth could not complete the reading! A tremendous roar of joy increased from the people of Beth-lehem. They leapt to their feet with clapping and cheering the good news. “Vayigash! Draw near to me! Vayigash!”
Had the angels not called out this very same thing? “Go, now! You will find him lying in a manger! Draw near to your Lord and Savior!” . . .
Vayigash! Draw near to me, declares the Lord. I love you so much I lay aside my awesome power and open my arms to embrace you as the brother you rejected.
The family rift between God and His beloved children, as foretold in Scripture, was about to be healed forever by the only Son of the Living God of Israel! . . .
In this reunion between God and man that first Shabbat morning, the Savior of Israel was embraced and adored by His family, the shepherds, and their families in Beth-lehem. Those who had given up hope that they would ever see Him face-to-face danced and sang as they drew near to Him.
—pp. 63–64

ASK
What does “Vayigash!” mean to you personally? What message of love, forgiveness, and deliverance do you wait for?
No matter where you have been or what you have done, God longs to open His arms and embrace you. Will you join His celebration?

WONDER . . .
Simeon believed it: “The Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, promised me I would not die until I saw the Lord’s Anointed, the Messiah.”
—p. 120
Eliyahu believed it: “Oh! Blessed are you! Holy Child of the Most High God! We welcome you! Blessed are you, Son of David! Blessed are you, Messiah, who has arrived to dwell in our midst!”
—p. 97
Hannah believed it: “Thanks be to the Almighty,” the woman proclaimed, “who has let us live until this day and permitted us to see such wondrous sights! Today, in our presence, your covenant is fulfilled. And I, Hannah, have seen it with my own eyes!”
—p. 196
What about you? Will you believe it? Will you wait no longer? Will you claim the promise fulfilled?
Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us.
Hosea 6:3

6
Longing Love
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
—Proverbs 13:12
For great is Your love, reaching to the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
—Psalm 57:10
Do you remember the first time you fell in love? the giddy way you acted? how much you thought about the person you longed for . . . and agonized over whether he or she shared your feelings?
What happened to that first love? Did it fade away, or did it grow? Tell the story.
If you could have the perfect love, what would it look like? What qualities would it have?
All of us long for love. All of us have a void deep inside that desperately needs to be filled.
Let’s be honest. We can know God loves us, but at times it’s difficult to feel the love of God. And we need that human touch—whether through a romantic love or the connection of family and friends—to remind us of the beauty of a loving relationship.
For over nine months, twenty-six-year-old court astronomer Melchior had been in the company of old Balthasar and his granddaughter, Esther. As his feelings for Esther grew, he wondered if she could possibly have feelings for him. . . .

READ
Melchior’s heart began pounding again, but it was from fear of a different kind. For a long time he had watched Esther mature into young womanhood. But it was only within the last year that he had fallen deeply in love with the raven-haired beauty with the tawny skin.
But he—not a Jew by birth and pale of skin, hair, and eyes—had been afraid to ask her grandfather for her hand. And she . . . how did she feel about him? Was he still just a companion with whom she had grown up? . . . What hope did he have of being loved by such a woman as Esther?
—p. 16, 70
Esther leaned back against Melchior’s chest. “And we are going to see him,” she murmured.

They stood that way for a long time. Finally Melchior put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Together,” he said.
When Esther tilted her chin upward, the starlight sparkled in her eyes. Melchior felt her warmth against his cheek . . . inhaled the sweetness of frankincense in her hair. “I . . . ,” he said. “We . . .”
Stretching up on tiptoe, Esther kissed him on the lips. Then, ducking under his arm, she darted back toward her grandfather’s tent.
Melchior stood, unmoving, staring after her, thoughts and emotions all jumbled together. Finally entering his own shelter, he lay down.
But he did not go to sleep until the stars had fled from the sky.
—p. 17

“Lovin’ you on earth is my one great joy. And the boys . . . our sons . . . the best gift from heaven.”
“The best gift,” Rachel reflected. “Our children.”
—Conversation between Zadok and Rachel (p. 51)

“Well then, a wife for each son t’ one day love as I love you. That’s my prayer. My heart can’t contain what I feel for you when I see you here. When we sit together. You. Me. These three little ones.”
—Zadok (p. 110)

ASK
Why do you think Melchior was so afraid to tell Esther how he felt about her? What changed between the first and second passages above? Why?
What was the most important thing in the world to Zadok? What is your “best gift from heaven”?
Whom do you consider family—and why?

READ
“What is it you are searching for, Melchior? . . . We’re all traveling so far. Grandfather’s hope? I think I know what he is looking for at the end of the journey. The others we’ve met on the road from the East. But you, Melchior? You are a man of so few words, yet . . .”
He . . . pointed at the cluster of stars that formed the constellation called The Pleiades by some. “. . . Your grandfather has taught me over the years to believe that someone . . . wonderful and mighty beyond our imagination . . . has created the stars.”
“We Jews call the Pleiades Ki-Mah.”

“Yes. It means ‘who made?’” Melchior spread his hands. “And that is what—or rather, whom—I am searching for. The One who made the stars and ordered the heavens so that even the night speaks to men’s hearts.”
—pp. 49–50

ASK
What is Melchior searching for? Why?

READ
Yosef kept his eye riveted on the errant ewe . . . “I never thought of them as having their own minds.”
Zadok laughed. “Just like humankind, they are! No different at all. It’s no mistake the Lord has called us his sheep. Stubborn, stupid, timid, foolish, careless, greedy. Prone t’ follow wherever the flock goes . . . even over a cliff if others was runnin’ that way. . . .
“There’s a rule among us. It’s written in here.” Zadok tapped his chest. “There’s lions and jackals in the desert pastures. A good shepherd’ll lay down his life for the safety of the flock. . . . Are there those who are in charge of sheep who don’t care? Aye. . . . There are hired men among the Arabs who’ll turn tail at the first sign of danger. They let their master’s sheep die and never think twice about it. But we men of Beth-lehem . . . we’re hereditary shepherds of the Lord’s own flocks. We walk the path David walked. Our shepherd-king. My boys will one day walk this path. . . .
“The Eternal has used these dumb, stubborn sheep—of all animals on earth—t’ teach us how much he loves his people Israel. . . . Some sheep refuse my protection. Some will not be saved. Aye. There’s Torah lessons a’plenty in the sheep.”
—pp. 141–142

Blessed are you, beloved Lamb of God! Blessed are you, Good Shepherd who has come down from heaven to save your flock! “Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
—p. 142
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me besides quiet waters, He restores my soul.
—Psalm 23:1-3

ASK
What is the role of a shepherd? What’s the difference between the shepherds of Beth-lehem and for-hire shepherds?

How are people like sheep?
In what ways do you act like a sheep? Do you accept or refuse the Shepherd’s protection? Do you allow yourself to enter God’s lush, green valley of protection? Why or why not?

READ
Simeon drew Zadok’s attention to the chosen text as his bony finger indicated a line of Hebrew script. “It begins with our very first father, Adam—created by the Almighty himself but still rebellious against him. Here’s what I want you to note. Every beriyt, every covenant, we speak of here concerns a man, deliverance, and a sacrifice.”
—pp. 156–157
“‘I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.’ . . .
“Every other covenant involved a man. But men fail, so the covenant is incomplete. Avraham could not perfectly keep it. Mosheh could not. David could not. But King Messiah—the God-Man, born of the virgin—he will perfectly mediate the covenant between the Almighty and his children. He will deliver us, all who bow before him, from the power of evil . . . forever. . . . Ah, well,” Hannah offered with a sigh. “‘I will make an everlasting covenant with you. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. This is what the Lord says: ‘Maintain justice and do what is right for My salvation—My Yeshua—is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed.’”
—pp. 168–170

ASK
How did these events, recorded in the Bible, “concern a man, deliverance, and a sacrifice”? (See pp. 156–158.)
*First covenant: Adam and Eve
*Second covenant: Noah and his family
*Third covenant: Avraham and his only son, Yitz’chak
*Fourth covenant: The nation of Israel (the Exodus from Egypt, led by Mosheh)
*Fifth covenant: David (who led the nation against enemies, fought idol worshippers, and united a whole kingdom in worshipping the One God)
*Sixth covenant: The God-Man, born of the virgin

How can you “maintain justice and do what is right”?

READ
[Yeshua] nestled in the crook of Mary’s arm. At the sensation of cold, tiny lashes fluttered. Mary brushed away the crystal with her thumb, pulled Him closer, and spread her fingers to shield His face beneath the palm of her hand.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
O Lord! How effortlessly she protects him even from the snowflake. Is this the way you protect us?
He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear.
Yosef silently recited the morning prayers. His heart rejoiced as comprehension of God’s message unfolded like successive waves against a desolate shore. In every gesture of her love for this little one . . . this One . . . your beloved Son . . . O Lord! Through a mother’s heart, you reveal how much you love your children!
—p. 24
“He is so big, isn’t he?”
“Much bigger than we even imagine,” Melchior replied, turning Esther to face him. “Ki-Mah. ‘Who made it? Who caused it?’” Melchior let that sink in for a moment, then added, “Here’s something your grandfather taught me. You know how much more powerful we are, say, than . . . than ants?”
Esther nodded.
“And we think of angels and archangels as much more powerful than us? Grander, wiser, stronger?”
Another nod.
“But when we see the stars and realize that the Almighty made them . . . and the angels . . . and us . . . and the ants . . . when we recognize that he made all there is, all that exists . . . then he is much, much bigger than even angels and archangels. Compared to The Lord of All the Angel Armies, even angels are as lowly as we, because even they, powerful as they are, were made, don’t you see? And yet . . .” Melchior’s thoughts grew tangled. . . .“It’s . . . it’s that I can’t understand why he cares about us enough to send his Son to be born like one of us. What does it mean?” . . .
Esther hugged him tightly. “Because the stars are too far away,” she said. “Because even angels can’t tell us. Perhaps to show us how much he loves us, it has to happen this way.”
—pp. 182–183

ASK
How does a mother’s love for her child reveal God’s love for us? In what way(s) does Melchior and Esther’s conversation affect the way you think of God—and especially how much He loves you?

WONDER . . .
The Parthian prayed as he had never prayed before to the God he had chosen to serve. He had not been born a Jew, but he loved everything about Adonai Elohim—Yahweh—the One God, the Almighty.
But would Yahweh answer? Would the Son of the Most High be revealed to a seeker as humble as Melchior? What right had he to expect a reply?
—p. 215

Is your heart humble and seeking, like Melchior’s? Do you long to feel the depth and height and breadth of God’s love?
God promises that if you call upon His name, He will declare to your heart the answer to your question: “Ki-Mah? Who made?” And you will know, beyond all doubt, who the baby in the manger is: the Son of the Living God, who made the stars, who made each of us, and who knows and calls you by name.
“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
—Acts 2:21

Dear Reader,
You are so important to us. We have prayed for you as we wrote this book and also as we receive your letters and hear your soul cries. We hope that Sixth Covenant has encouraged you to go deeper. To get to know Yeshua better. To fill your soul hunger by examining Scripture’s truths for yourself.
We are convinced that if you do so, you will find this promise true: “If you seek Him, He will be found by you.”
—1 Chronicles 28:9
Bodie & Brock Thoene