Good Morning

Katherine DC. Santos

Assistant Auditor
AGC Internal Audit
A Curse and a Promise
Imagine waking up one day in a
perfect world.
It’s a nice idea, but we all know that a
perfect world doesn’t exist.

But it was once true and will be again.

Adam and Eve
Their choice
resulted in
a Curse:
1. Adam and Eve were separated from God.

2. The couple was separated from nature’s

proper functioning.

3. Adam and Eve were separated relationally

from each other.
But God did not leave them
without hope.

God buried a promise in the curse.

Jesus’ birth foretold.
The Promise Fulfilled
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with
you.” Gabriel said.

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
You will conceive and give birth to a son , and you are to
call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son
of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne
of His father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s
descendants forever; his kingdom will never end”

“How will this be since I am a virgin?” Mary

asked the angel.
“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be
born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your
relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she
who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth
month. For no word from God will ever fail.” the angel
answered.

“I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be

fulfilled.” Mary answered.
For thousands of years the Jews had talked
about God’s promised Redeemer.

They had the words of the prophets and knew

that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

They knew He would be born to a

descendant of the great King David.

Someday He would come.

A Profound Faith
If you had been Mary that day, what would you
have thought after Gabriel left you?
“Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the child you will bear!
But why I am so favored, that the
mother of my Lord should come to
me? And soon as the sound of your
greeting reached my ears, the baby
in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed
is she who has believed that the
Lord would fulfilled his promises to
her!”
Adam and Eve had heard the word of the
Lord but had doubted.
Mary heard the word of the Lord from
hi messenger Gabriel and believed.
She believed against everything that seemed
rational, natural or humanly impossible.
A Dangerous Situation
Mary was clearly in an embarrassing
situation.
A Jewish engagement often lasted a year and
was a kind of marriage without sex.
 If Mary got pregnant during this period,
tongues would wag.
If Joseph, knowing the he was not the father,
decided to break the engagement to Mary, she
could be stoned to death.
(Deuteronomy 22:20-24)
On the other hand, if Joseph went ahead with the
wedding to Mary, people would think he had
violated the strict customs of chastity during the
engagement period.
Because Joseph was faithful to the law, and yet
did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace,
he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is
from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he
will save his people from their sins.”
A Harrowing Journey
…and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in
pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind;
and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the
earthquake.
And after the earthquake a fire; but he Lord was not in the fire; and
after the fire came a gentle whisper.

-1 Kings 19:11-
12
Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Where shall I flee from Your
Presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, You are there: if I make my bed in hell, You
are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea;
Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

-Psalms 139: 7-10

 Thank You!

God Bless the

upcoming New
Year.