Whispers of Advent In The Old Testament
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Well, if you listen to Live in the Brain, you know that I am a fan of anything and everything Christmas. I also had this beautiful book come across my desk that reminded me of what it's really supposed to be about. It's called Awaiting the Manger, Whispers of Advent in the Old Testament, and it's

And it got my attention for a number of reasons. It is written by our guest today, Oceana Fleiss. She's written all kinds of books, including her memoir, Love Like There's No Tomorrow, How a Cardiac Arrest Brought My Heart to Life. That's a whole different story. She's a mom. She's a wife. She does it all. And she's joining us today to talk about this beautiful Advent book. Oceana, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me.

Okay, so this is different because I love how this book is done and we'll talk about how it's set up, but you're looking at the Old Testament instead of the New Testament where we find the traditional Christmas story. So tell me your thought process in looking to the old prophecies instead of the Christmas story exclusively itself in the New Testament.

Absolutely. So it's many years ago when I was in my 20s or so, I felt like I knew everything about the Bible. I was just like, I've got it down. I'd studied it and been to church, you know, many years. And so a friend of mine took me to that passage in Luke 24 after the resurrection and

And Jesus is walking on the road to Emmaus, and it says about him, "...beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

And my friend was like, I don't think you know everything about the Bible. I don't think you know this. And she was absolutely right. I didn't realize that the whole Old Testament, when he says Moses and the prophets, he's talking about the whole Old Testament, is about Jesus. And that really lit the fire in me to just really want to learn how he is in all of the Old Testament. How is that possible? And man, it's been a wonderful, exciting journey learning that. And also I teach online.

Junior Hires Bible, I've taught them for the last 15 or so years. And as I studied for that, and as I just did my own studies, I would see, hey, this one specifically seems to point not just to Jesus, but to Advent, to his birth, his coming. And

And I would write down little notes and write down devotionals and type them out once in a while. And eventually that just kind of came together as a book. And I'm just so grateful that I got the opportunity to put it together and in this way.

It's a beautiful book, again, called Awaiting the Manger, Whispers of Advent in the Old Testament. And it's a beautiful, I think it would be a beautiful gift too, but it's something that you open it and it's just beautiful in every way to be cherished and to be studied.

But really to be applied to in each of these lessons, you walk us through some of these learnings and these details and facts from the Old Testament. But you give us a couple things, too, at the end of the chapter. Practice kind of working through applying these things, reflecting on

Questions we ask ourselves about our faith, about applying it. You have a prayer, which I always think is a beautiful thing, especially for people who are maybe less confident in their prayer life. You give them good guidance there. You give them additional readings. And you have a place to sing. So there are hymns here. There are Christmas songs here. You really give people a lot of meat to work through the story and reflect on how to personalize it too.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that a lot of that part of it came from when my kids were little, and I really enjoyed sitting down at Advent time with them, maybe lighting a little candle and just reading maybe some passages related to Advent. But we had this little paper-bound stapled bookcase.

book that somebody had given us and it had the hymns to sing every day. And we just loved doing that with our little family. And so I thought when I, when this book came about, I thought, Oh, how wonderful to be able to put those hymns in there for us to, to sing because music is such a big part of Christmas and,

And sometimes the songs don't glorify Jesus, you know. So I wanted some songs in there that would help families and individuals as well to really focus back on Jesus with our songs and with our hearts.

And that's such a big part of this too, that I think for a lot of people, Advent can be a fun thing, whether you have a calendar and you get to open a different piece of chocolate every day or a beautiful ornament every day. I mean, there are beautiful ways to celebrate this, but you talk about the importance of really diving into Advent, kind of the discipline and the beauty of it, of actually studying and preparing our hearts for what is coming. Do you think that's a little bit of a lost art these days?

Well, it can be. It was for me, for sure. Because as a mom and maybe just anyone just get overtaken by the crazy busyness and decorating and cooking and finding the right gifts and money budgeting and all of those things can just be a stress.

And I don't want to be stressed at that time of year. It's not about that. I want to be focused on Jesus who came as the Prince of Peace. And I found that just going through an Advent devotional like this one, and also just how

Having that quiet time with the Lord in His Word, in prayer, even in the songs, like we said, can just totally refocus our hearts and our minds onto what is really important during that time. It's not all that crazy busyness of life. It's of the season. It's really about Jesus. And what better time to focus on Him? I mean, it's about Him.

Yeah, that is what Christmas is about. Whether people celebrate it as a secular family or friends or whatever it is, the original meaning is definitely for people of faith or the Christian faith, a beautiful time of year and one that should make us very thankful for redemption and for hope and all of those things. We'll have more Live in the Bream in a moment.

I'm Guy Benson. Join me weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern as we break down the biggest stories of the day with some of the biggest newsmakers and guests. Listen live on the Fox News app or get the free podcast at GuyBensonShow.com.

So again, the book is Awaiting the Manger, and it looks at Old Testament pointing us to what happens in the New Testament, to Christ's arrival. So I want to get your take on some of these folks from the Old Testament and how they relate to the New Testament story of the gospel and the arrival of Christ. Let's talk about Abraham. I mean, certainly there were glorious promises made to him and plenty of drama in his life and in his story. What do you want us to see about Abraham as we look to the Christmas and Advent season?

I love Abraham so much because he is like most of these characters. Maybe I could say all of the characters. There's, there's a brokenness to him. He's not, he doesn't always do the right thing. You know, he, he has all these flaws, but toward the end of his life, he's been through a lot, you know, he's traveled, he's sinned by, you know, lying about his wife, Sarah and all these different things. And, and,

It comes toward the end and it's when God asks him to give up his son. And it's called, you know, the binding of Isaac is what that's called. And he goes and he takes, he doesn't question God that time. He just says, he just goes and it's his beloved son. And so he takes him and he goes up to the hill and he,

offers him, puts him on the altar to sacrifice him. And there's so many amazing little nuggets in that, that Isaac carries his own pack of wood and Isaac willingly lays down. I mean, all of that just is a picture of Christ. But I really think about it being called the binding of Isaac. And he was bound there and he willingly was bound. And when Jesus was born, I think

in a sense, just the incarnation itself is sort of a binding of Jesus himself, being the God of the universe, leaving his throne and coming into the boundaries of earth.

and leaving his home above, leaving his throne above, as they say. And then, of course, being bound in those swaddling clothes. It's so interesting that it tells us that he was put in swaddling clothes. He's bound. He's the god of the universe, and yet he's bound and held by

by his mother Mary. And then later in his life, again, after his crucifixion, he's bound again, not in swaddling clothes, but in those robes they put him on after he died in the tomb. And so

We see this sort of amazing picture of Abraham's story and how it's foreshadowing Jesus and his sacrifice and what he gave for us. And so there's just all these beautiful whispers like that.

in the Old Testament. Yeah, so many parallels in thinking about these different stories. One of my favorites, too, is Jochebed. And for people who maybe aren't as familiar with her, she was Moses' mother. And so, goodness, she plays such an important role in giving up her son, in a way, doing what she could to protect his life, and then releasing him in the way that she had to, to let him go on to his destiny, which was to lead the Jewish people to be free and to lead the exodus.

away from their oppressors. Tell us about Jochebed. Oh, Jochebed. She is so, so amazing. You just think about her story and how the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt and the midwives were expected to throw the babies into the Nile River. Right, just kill them. Just to kill them. And

But the wonderful midwives who are really the heroes in a lot of ways of that part of the story, they didn't do it. And so Jacobette has this child and yet there's always this fear that she's going to be found out.

you know, that they're going to know that she has this child and she's trying to hide him and but she can't he's getting bigger and she can't hide him anymore. And so she makes this little basket is what we all have heard. But really, it's like a little ark. And it even says that she uses the same tar stuff that she put on the ark as was on Noah's ark. And so we see this this picture of the salvation of

Of Israel is in this little ark floating down the river. And then, of course, it's Moses. And he grows up to be the great deliverer.

And Jesus was also, you know, he was in a wooden manger. He comes as a baby. He's born in dangerous circumstances. And yet he comes to his people to be the deliverer, a greater deliverer even than Moses was. And so we see that, you know, we see this amazing story.

picture of these babies that come in and really become the deliverers. And of course, we can't help but think about Jesus because he too was a baby that was a deliverer. Yeah. And lived as a human being among us. That's one of the beautiful gifts of the Christmas story is that, as you've talked about, I mean, he knew what he was walking into. And to leave heaven, I mean, how many of us would say like, oh, I have this perfect, all-powerful, stress-free, beautiful life and

beyond all boundaries. And yet I'm going to decide these flawed humans down there, I'm going to go take on their skin and live among them and experience everything, temptation and emotions and all of the things that, you know, we know he wasn't a high priest that hasn't suffered as we have a scripture says like that he understands what we go through. And part of that process is going to be coming as a baby. Now I noticed too, that you have a chapter on one of my favorite books,

really unknown characters but there's such an amazing part to his story in the in the old testament mephibosheth and i did include him in my last book love stories of the bible because i was like this is such an important story in the donathan and david um friendship story um but tell us who he is and why he's in your advent study

Oh, man, I love Mithra Bishath so much. He's one of my favorites. But I do say that about every everyone. So I know the more I dig into their stories. I'm like, yeah, now that I know them even better, I feel like I really know this person.

Yeah, and it just keeps getting better and better. But Mephibosheth was the son of King Saul. And of course, when King Saul's kingdom fell, oh, he's such a tragic story. So he was just a baby. And his nurse was running out of Jerusalem or, you know, out of their palace to leave the

the danger zone there where the new kingdom was coming in of David being coming king. And as she was running with him, she fell and he was crippled in both of his feet.

And so he's this cripple and then he ends up going far away, all the way toward the eastern border of Israel, toward the north. So he's almost outside of Israel. He's barely in the boundary there. He's living with kind of an unknown guy and he grows up there. And David, as he's older,

Years have gone by and he remembers his promise to Jonathan that he would always take care of his children and his beloved. I'm sorry, Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan. Yes, the grandson of King Saul. Yeah. But Jonathan's son, but in that family lineage of King Saul. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And David finds out about Mephibosheth out there, and he goes and he sends somebody to get him. And that alone just brings tears to my eyes, really. It's such a picture of Jesus, the good shepherd,

going after his lost sheep. You know, David sends somebody to get him and make sure that he's okay. He brings him back and Mephibosheth is terrified, doesn't know why he's been brought back, but he ends up blessing him and he gets to sit at the table of the king for the rest of his life. And it's just this amazing picture of

us sitting at Jesus's table, us being able to, even every time we take communion, we're sitting at the table with Jesus and he has sought us and brought us back. And a really cool thing too is that Mephibosheth... There's no easy way to say it. It's hard to... Like if you get your Bible assignment reading at school or at church, you're like, please don't make me read the verse with Mephibosheth in it. I'm not going to get it right on stage in front of everybody. Yeah.

Totally. It's a fun word, though. Yes. But he has a son, too. And so this lineage goes even this grace, this love goes on to his beautiful son, whose name is Micah. And so we see that love of God just brought through there so strongly. Yeah.

So what do you say to people who, again, we're talking to Oceana Fleiss, who is the author of this beautiful new book, Awaiting the Manger, Whispers of Advent in the Old Testament, to folks who say, I don't get the Old Testament as part of this story. Why?

Why not just focus on the New Testament part of the story? I get that part. I'm familiar with that part of Christmas. Why is it important, do you think, to go back and have a full appreciation of the Old Testament as God-inspired and breathed scripture? Well, it's really fun, for one thing. Yeah.

The Old Testament is amazing. It's exciting. And there's so much drama. I mean, if you haven't read it, it's like whatever hit show or family, you know, dynamic that you're watching, it is 10 times crazier in the Bible. And the good news that you kind of alluded to earlier is that even with all the flaws and messes that I every day, I'm a sinner saved by grace. Thank God he uses us despite all of these crazy situations. And man, the Old Testament is not short on those.

Right, exactly. It's there's so much drama and there's so much excitement, but also it's really encouraging to see that.

I talk about in the book before the beginning. He had a plan even before the foundation of the world that this plan would happen. And then in Genesis, we have the first gospel where we find out that the Savior is going to come and crush the serpent's head. And you see the beginning of the story and it just keeps going.

arcing and growing until we finally they're waiting so long we're awaiting the manger we're waiting so long through all of the old testament but it just builds up and builds up and builds up until boom here comes jesus and it's so exciting that he he finally came and so it's great to have it's kind of like you need the

the beginning of the story, you don't want to miss out on all of that and just show up when he comes. You want to see the whole arc and the whole plan that he had. And there's just so much richness in that. And it makes the actual coming of Jesus even more exciting and more rich.

Well, if you are looking for a good Advent study to do with your family, with friends, a church group, your neighborhood, whatever it is, you will really enjoy all of the meat that's in this, the beauty that's in this book. And like I said, talking about it earlier, just each of the prompts that works you through figuring out ways to apply this, to ask yourself questions.

To enjoy the hymns that celebrate the Christmas story, it's a beautiful book, Oceana Fleiss. Thank you so much for joining us on Live in the Bremen. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you, and thank you so much for having me. Listen ad-free with the Fox News Podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app. ♪

From the Fox News Podcast Network. I'm Ben Domenech, Fox News contributor and editor of the Transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week. It's the Ben Domenech Podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to FoxNewsPodcast.com.