The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - God's Christmas Gift - Mercy

Episode Date: December 21, 2018

In his mercy, God sent his only to be born of a virgin and die for our sins. We need this mercy each and every day, but are able to see it in a special way at Christmas. Jeff unpacks the incredible mystery of the incarnation. He draws parallels between Mary and the Ark of the Covenant and walk us through scripture to show how the incarnation brings us back to mercy. Jeff’s words will change your perspective of Christmas forever. For the full shownotes, go to ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow or send us an email at [e-mail] to get it delievered straight to your inbox!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven's show. Episode 95, God's Christmas gift, mercy. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. Welcome to the show and Merry Christmas to you. If you're listening out of order, we are only days away from Christmas at the time of this particular broadcast. And on behalf of my family, Ascension Press, all of my friends here in the Twin Cities, deep in the woods, actually, a Merry Christmas to you. We really do hope you have a great Christmas. And that's what I'd like to talk about this week.

It's not going to be a long show, because I know that things are busy right now. And you're shopping and getting ready at your home. And maybe there's college kids coming back. and kids are taking a break, just an awful lot going on. But I want to share one really, really important thing with you this week about really the meaning of Christmas. And I've entitled this show God's Christmas Gift, Mercy, and I want to tell you something about mercy and Jesus being born in Bethlehem that maybe you've never heard before,

which I personally think is absolutely mind-blowing. And it will change your Christmas for. forever. What I'm about to share with you will change your Christmas if you get it. And it doesn't take a lot, but you got to stick with me, and I think you will get it, and Christmas will be changed. You know, so many of us are in need of mercy in our lives right now. When we walk and we navigate through life here, so many times we fall, we sin, and we need God's mercy. We need his love and his grace in the midst of our pain. And I know that many people experience emotional pain prior to Christmas and even from Christmas to the New Year, because there's so many expectations that

were not fulfilled. And there are people missing from your life, maybe for the first time this year. Perhaps your father passed away this last year, your mother or a child. And these things are very, very painful. And I think sometimes it is accented, the pain is accented during this Christmas time because of the expectations of our heart, you know? And hope, hope deferred makes the heart sick, scripture says. And I think all of us have experienced that to one degree or another. So that's why I want to talk about mercy. It's God's, it's God's love in the midst of your pain. It's His grace. It's the life of the Trinity in the midst of your pain. And we need it now. The thing I'm going to share with you really is,

about the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in Christmas. And she has so many titles, you know. She's Our Lady of Sorrows and Queen of the Apostles. One of her titles is also a queen of mercy, our mother of mercy. And we have to ask ourselves, well, why? Why do we call her that? So I'm going to do two parts to this show. The first part before the break, I want to set up something for you from the Old Testament about Mary and the Ark of the covenant. And then when we come back from the break, I'm going to show you how she is the key to mercy coming into our lives and how she is giving us a tremendous gift of mercy during the Christmas season. You know, when you study the Old Testament, you see an awful lot of people, you see a lot of concepts, you see a lot of places, cities, valleys, mountains,

and so forth. And there's so much that happens. And one of the things that we we have to understand about biblical study is that when you study the Old Testament, we're not just studying the literal sense or what it meant to the author. While that is very important, and actually first when we interpret scripture, but then we look at the spiritual senses and we ask ourselves, well, how does this relate to Jesus? How does it relate to my own conduct? And how does it relate to the future, specifically heaven? And one of the things that is a rule, no matter what we're studying, scripture, is that scripture is Christocentric. It's Christocentric. In other words, it finds its ultimate interpretation, its ultimate meaning really in Jesus. That's where we really get to the bottom line.

And so when we look at the Old Testament and we see kings and, you know, kings' mothers and we see manna and we see Passover lambs and we see a mountain, you know, we always are looking for how does how is this fulfilled in the Old Testament? Now, one of the furnishings in the Old Testament, after Moses came down from Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus, he came down and he gave Israel a tabernacle. This was a pattern of heavenly worship that he saw up on the Mount. And there was furniture in the tabernacle, which every piece has specific meaning for the life of Israel. And today, I want to focus in on one particular piece of furniture that was in the Holy of Holies, the very place that the high priest would go into and he would receive mercy, make it make atonement,

and mercy was available to the people. In that Holy of Holies was a piece of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant was, it's actually a very small box. It's not really a big box, but a fairly small box made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. And three things Moses told them to associate with this, this Ark of the covenant. Inside of it, you would have a bowl of manna, reminding them of the fact that God fed them, this bread in the wilderness. Number two, you would have a copy of the Ten Commandments as a reminder that, you know, God's word is leading us and guiding us. And then, and then Aaron's budding rod, which stood for the fact that the high priest line of the Levites

comes from the family of Aaron and Moses. So there's three things that are related to the Ark of the Covenant. You've got the Manor, you've got the Word of God, and you have the High Priest. So those are three things that are related to it. But what's interesting about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant is that you have two cherubim on top. I'm talking. I'm talking. top of the Ark of the Covenant, facing each other with their wings touching, and then beneath them, on the very top of the Ark of the Covenant, was the mercy seat. This was the place where they received mercy, where on top of the Ark of the Covenant, which had contained the Word of God, the manna, and the budding rod of Aaron. So this is the holiest piece of furniture.

in Israel. And wherever they moved the tent, they were careful to move the Ark of the Covenant, where the presence of God was. They were very careful in how they moved it. There was a procedure on how to move the Ark because it needed to be protected. It was the most holy piece of furniture in Israel. In fact, there's an example in the Old Testament of somebody moving in on the Ark and touching it inappropriately, and they died. I mean, this is serious stuff. So the Ark of the Covenant was holy, and it was at the center of Israel's worship, and it's the place where they received the mercy of God. Now, what's interesting is that when you look at all of these pieces of furniture, and you look at Mount Sinai, and you look at Egypt, and you look at Passover lambs,

and, you know, King David, you can go on and on. We have to look at Mount Sinai. We have to look at Mount Sinai, and you look at Egypt, and you look at Passover lambs. we have to look at, are there New Testament equivalents? Are there fulfillments of what we see in the Old Testament, or what I like to call biggie-sizing it, you know? If Moses went up on a mountain, then what did Jesus do? He went up on the, you know, the mount to give his sermon up in Galilee. There were 12 tribes. The New Testament, Jesus has 12 apostles.

You know, we have the Passover lamb in the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament, Jesus is the Passover lamb, and that the pastical mystery is the center of our faith. I think you know what I'm saying. I'm saying there. And so if we have the arc of the covenant in the Old Testament, then we have to ask ourselves, well, where's the Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament? Well, that's problematic. Because what we're going to find out here in just a little bit is that the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament actually was taken out of commission. I'll explain that. and never to return, never to return, but actually does return in the fulfillment of the covenant with the new arc of the covenant. You got it. It's Mary, but I'll explain that in just a

moment. So before we do that, let me just share with you that the early church fathers saw the Blessed Virgin Mary as the new arc of the covenant, because coming from her womb was the word made flesh, remember the three things in the Ark in the Old Testament, the Word of God, copy of the Ten Commandments. Well, coming from her womb, remember that word, womb, comes the living word of God. And coming from her womb comes the bread from heaven, the Eucharist. Like we have manna in the Old Testament. Well, from her womb, from the new Ark of the covenant comes this Eucharist, and then from her womb comes the great high priest, Jesus. So it didn't take a lot of imagination for the early church fathers to notice that she, in fact, is the new arc of the covenant.

She's the new ark of the covenant. But what Luke does in his gospel is fascinating. And I'll put this in the show notes for you, because if you're driving, you're going Christmas shopping or something, you do not want to get in an accident. You want to celebrate Christmas this year. But I'm going to put it in the show notes. And what Luke does is Luke goes into the Old Testament, and he sees the point where David brought the Ark of the covenant into Jerusalem. In second Samuel 6. And he notices a pattern between David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem for the first time and the Blessed Virgin Mary coming into Jerusalem area for the first time. And it's fascinating. You know, I've been to Israel. I'll be in just about three weeks from now. I'll be going to Israel again. It's been my 54th trip. If you want to go with me, next January, we've got some amazing trips. And then June of 2020, Father Mike Schmitz and I are leading a trip for young adults. That'll be on my website. Mark Juneoff. I think it's the first through the 10th. But when we go there, we always go by this beautiful church outside of Jerusalem called Curiat Yarrim. And it's a big Catholic

church. And on top of the church is a giant arc of the covenant with the Blessed Virgin Mary standing on it. It's just breathtaking. And we oftentimes will have mass there. Well, the God, The Gospel of Luke seems to pick up on David bringing the ark into Jerusalem, and Luke uses the same language to describe the new ark, the Blessed Virgin Mary, coming into Jerusalem. Let me read you those parallels real quick, and again, this is going to be in the show notes. Number one, and I'm reading from 2nd Samuel 6 and Luke 1. That's the parallel, okay? 2nd Samuel 6 is when David brings the ark in. Oh, right. Number one, it says, quote, David arose and went to Judah. New Testament Ark, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Luke 1,

verse 39, Mary arose and went to the hill country of Judea. There's one parallel. 2 Samuel 6, verse 9, David cries out, how can the Ark of the Lord come to me? New Testament, Luke 1, Elizabeth asks, why is it granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? same language back to second samuel six versus 14 and 15 david is found leaping and dancing before the ark of the covenant we've got it again in the new testament luke one verses 41 through 44 the baby in elizabeth's womb is leaping for joy in mary's presence there's more i'll give you another one second samuel six the ark of the covenant remained at the house of obed edom for three months as it made its way to Jerusalem.

Well, New Testament, Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant, remained at the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months. For three months. So you see that you have this parallel in the Gospel of Luke. He's trying to show you, hey, guys, and gals, she's the new Ark of the Covenant. She's the New Ark of the Covenant. And you know, in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant,

oftentimes would go before Israel in battle. The presence of God would go before Israel in battle. And I got good news. Your mother, Mary, is a warrior, and she will fight for you. She will absolutely fight for you. Now, when you go into the book of Revelation, for example, in the book of Revelation, there's an absolutely beautiful, beautiful imagery of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Revelation chapter 12. Revelation 11 says that John in in Revelation 11 suddenly he looks up into heaven and he sees the ark. And then in the next verse, which is chapter 12, he describes a woman, the new arc of the covenant. He describes a woman mentioned in chapter 12. And you know what's interesting about it? It's the

exact description of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Remember that? Teppiac Hill in Mexico City years and years ago. Same description. Clothed with the sun. That was December of 1531. Juan Diego, St. Juan Diego had this vision, and you can go and you can still see the Toma there today. And so not only did Luke see that Mary was the new Ark of the Covenant, John sees that she's the New Ark of the Covenant, And then the apparition in Mexico is a complete parallel, absolutely incredible. Now, I'm going to take a break. When I come back, I'm going to share something with you about the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mercy and Bethlehem and Christmas that just might blow your mind.

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Reading the Bible is something we as Catholics know we should do, but let's be honest, it can be kind of complicated. Even though it's a complete story, the Bible isn't really one book. It's more like a library, with dozens of books and dozens of genres. There's poetry, prophecy, and prose. There are apocalypses and revelations, historical accounts, and allegories. No wonder it's difficult to keep a finger on the story of God's love and plan of salvation for his people,

the thread that keeps all of it together. If you're wishing there was a simple guide to help you tie all of this together, then you're just like Jeff Kavans and Tim Gray. That's why they wrote the book, Walking with God. Walking with God is a single book that traces the story that ties the Bible together. It helps you to understand the big picture of the Bible. If you're looking to read more of the Bible,

walking with God will help you do it with confidence, peace, and clarity. You can find out more and order Walking with God on ascensionpress.com or on Amazon. Hey, welcome back. This is kind of my Christmas show for you this year. And we're talking about mercy. And we've got the typical story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem. We're all familiar with it. We're going to get that in the readings, you know, this week. But I want to give you a different perspective on it. And before the break, we were really establishing the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the new ark of the covenant. and tied to that is the Word of God, the bread, and the High Priest. And she gives birth to the Eucharist

and the Word made flesh and the King of Kings, the Lord of Lord. It's a great high, the great high priest. All right. So let's focus now a little bit, just for a few minutes, on this idea of the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament, and how do we see the new Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament? Well, the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament, as I mentioned before the break, was the center of Israel's worship. It was the holiest piece of furniture. On top of it was the mercy seat. Okay, remember that. That is really, really important. Well, in about 1,000 BC, King David entered into a covenant with God in 2 Samuel, Chapter 7, and God said that someone from your lineage will be on the throne forever and ever. Well, the next one, after David, was Solomon. But then something terrible happened. Solomon started good and ended bad. I hope we're not like that.

At least I hope I'm not like that. You know, that would be terrible. But he started good, ended bad. And he became really rough on the people, and the people revolted. The 10 tribes to the north under the leadership of Jeroboam, the first. They revolted. and in 9.30 BC, the kingdom divided into two nations, Israel to the north with 10 tribes, and Judah to the south with two tribes. Well, the north didn't last much longer after 930 BC,

and it was in 722 BC that the Assyrians came down and just obliterated the north, and took them into captivity, spread them around the world. Well, the South didn't learn a lot from their iniquity and the chast, you know, the messages from the prophets, and the South was in trouble themselves. And we're looking at now about 586, 587 BC, the Babylonians are the world power, and they're going to come down into Jerusalem, and they're going to destroy Jerusalem, which means the Ark of the Covenant's going to be destroyed. We don't want that, right? So what happens is, and you can read about this in 2 Maccabees chapter 2 versus 4 through 7, I'll put that in the show notes as well.

No extra charge. Second Maccabees 2 versus 4 through 7, it gives us a rare glimpse into something that happens behind the scenes when Israel understands that the Babylonians are going to come down and they're going to destroy the temple. And we know from reading scripture that once the temple, destroyed and they're taken into Babylon, they will be in Babylon for 70 years. And then they're going to come back and they're going to rebuild the temple under Ezra Nehemiah. Okay? If you are a Bible timeline student, that's the yellow period. That's the return brighter days ahead. But until

then, they're going to sing the blues in Babylon, Babylon, baby blue. And they're going to prepare for it. So here's how they prepare for it. They said, okay, the Babylonians are coming and we got to do something about the ark. Let's take it and let's bury it somewhere, and then when this is all over with, we'll go and find the ark, and then when we rebuild the temple, we'll put the ark back in its place. So here's how what it sounds like in Second Maccabees 2. It was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance. And had seen the inheritance of God. And Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark

and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared the place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. Stick with me here. This is powerful. It'd be well worth it for you to stick with me here, okay? Now, what happened? Under Jeremiah's leadership, they knew that the Babylonians were going to come down and destroy the temple, which it's understood that the Ark of the Covenant will probably be destroyed or abused or something. So they said, hey, let's get that out of there before they come down, okay? Where should we put it? Let's put it in a cave, okay?

Let's put it in a cave. So they put it in a cave, and then one guy says, well, you know what? After the Babylonians have had their way with Jerusalem, we're going to rebuild the temple, obviously. And we won't know where the ark is, so let's put a marker on there, maybe a flag or, you know, a strobe, or I don't know what they're thinking at that time, obviously not a strobe. But let's mark it. And Jeremiah says, no. And here's the thing. The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. Oh, this is powerful. And so that's what they did. And 70 years later, Zerobabal comes back. Ezra comes back. Nehemiah comes back. They rebuild the temple. They start teaching the word of God.

rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, but there's no evidence that the ark was brought back. And in fact, Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives and looked at the temple, Mount, now King Herod's temple, and he said, Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, the city that stoned the prophets, how often I would have gathered you to myself like a mother hen gathering the chicks, but you would not behold, your house is empty and desolate. And so all this time since the return from Babylonian captivity, the temple has been empty. Where's the ark? Well, we know it's out there in a cave somewhere and it's not, God will not reveal the ark until he has brought his people together to show his mercy. Well, think for a moment with me. When the ark was hidden prior to the Babylonian

captivity, we don't know, but we know it's in a cave, don't we? And nobody's ever found it. There's a few groups that say they think they have, the Ethiopian church and Harrison Ford and a few others. But we, that's a joke, we don't know where that cave is. And we, you know what, we don't need to. You know why? Because the new arc of the covenant appears. And you know where the new arc of the covenant appears? Christmas in a cave. Get that? It was hidden in a cave. Don't mark it. Don't mark it. The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. You get this, my friends. The ark has been hidden in a cave. And now, in the new covenant, it's been revealed in a cave. The new ark of the covenant is revealed in a cave.

It's a woman. It's the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's the Gabera, the queen mother. It is the advocate, the intercessor for us, and the one who provides for us through her womb the mercy of God. The word of God, the Eucharist, the great high priest. She provides the mercy. She's giving us the gift of her son. And God is, God, the Father is giving the gift of his son to us. And this is mercy. Now, what I'm about to share with you right now is the mind-blower. Listen to this. Listen to this. The word in Hebrew, the word in Hebrew for mercy is Raham. R-A-C-H-A-M, it'll be in the show notes. come. Guess what the word for womb is? It's the same word. Rehem. It's the same three-consonant stem.

The same word for womb is the word that we come up with mercy. Do you get that? Oh, that's so beautiful. That from the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament, the mercy was flowing to Israel. And from the New Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament, the mercy of God is flowing to us through Mary. It is Jesus coming into our life. Oh, this puts a new spin on Christmas in Bethlehem like perhaps you've never heard before. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, when you sing that this year, think about the New Ark of the Covenant. Think about the cave. think about the manna, think about the Word of God, think about the great high priest,

think about the mercy sea, our lady of mercy. And as the ark was spared from destruction in the Old Testament, so the Blessed Virgin Mary was saved from the stain of original sin. Wow. And as David left Bethlehem and defeated the giant, so Christ at Christmas now leaves Bethlehem. to take on the giant of sin and destruction and announces his mercy. I don't know about you, but man, I could have a little cry right now. Isn't that beautiful? Merry Christmas from God. May you have a Merry, Merry Christmas.

Enjoy. the mercy of God. All that'll be in the show notes. My friend, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and I love to hear about it. You can write me, The Jeffcaven Show at ascensionpress.com. I've had quite a few letters of people asking, how do I get your new book on the activated disciple? Because the website at Ascension Press says sold out, but there's nothing there that says are going to be selling it again, I guess so, but they are. They're reprinting it now, and it should be available any day right now. You just keep going back there and continue on walking as an activated disciple. I'd like to pray for you. In the name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you for life. And I thank you, Lord, for Christmas in the meaning of Christmas. Never again will it be the same, O Jesus, as we realize that through the womb of your mother comes mercy in our life. We are grateful. We are joyful. And Lord, we want to grab a hold of the mercy of God in our life and walk in it. Thank you for the gift that you've given us this year. May we extend mercy to others as well. In Jesus' name. Amen. And let's pray the final prayer since this is talking about the mercy seat and the new ark of the covenant hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen love you merry christmas