The Christmas Story…as it should be…
Even Better Than Linus
24 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in Children, Christianity, Christmas, Gospel, Salvation
Category Archives: Christmas
Christmas Mourning
30 Thursday Dec 2010
Posted in Christmas, Discipleship, Hope, Kingdom of God, Sandy, Trusting God, Worship
Last night someone asked me if I was excited and ready for the new year.
I told them I was still grieving the passing of Christmas. And that 2010 would be pretty hard to top.
Until God spoke this morning, I have been pretty bummed that Christmas has come and gone, its imprint shriveling up like the melting snowman in our backyard. The carols have dried up like a puddle in the mojave and holiday movies, while still around, are the worst of the badder ones. Is that a word?
I mourn because Christmas, for me this year, was akin to a moment in sport’s history.
In 1991-1992, the Atlanta Braves went from “worst to first.”
In 2009-2010, Christmas, in my household, also went from worst to first.
In 2009, I was in the hospital, quite nauseous, feverish, and barely sniffed my hospital fare of turkey, dressing and slice of red velvet cake. There were no presents to exchange, a son who was ‘God only knew’ and I fell asleep early while my Sandy, ever faithful and vigilant to see to my comfort, spent the day in a quiet hospital room while her family gathered nine hours away.
She would add the word “gladly” to that last clause. ‘Cause she’s just like that.
But this Christmas was magical. It seemed draped in a veritable Kinkade coziness where the amber light glows through winter fog, snow and night. I was “bound and determined” to make sure this season would be memorable for all the right reasons and from Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas night it was mission accomplished. Continue reading »
Magi-stic Faith
21 Tuesday Dec 2010
Posted in Birth of Jesus, Christianity, Christmas, Kingdom of God, Reign of Christ, Repentance, Salvation
“The Magi could have stayed in their libraries and palaces and kept on observing the sky. But some of them decided that if God had sent a King for the Jews and for the world, then they would go. The kingdom of heaven is like that. Discovering what is worth having and letting go of everything else to have it is the wisest choice we can make.”
–A forgotten source
“Lord, increase our faith!”
–Disciples, Luke 17:5
In my childhood bid to be liked by my peers, I unfortunately got on the wrong foot, side and track with several of my teachers. Except for Mrs. Livengood, sixth grade. She thought my antics were pretty funny, but stood alone on that topic. Music class was where I most often irked my teachers silly by entertaining my classmates with new and improved lyrics to traditional songs. Even at Christmas.
Jingle Bells had little to do with Santa and more to do with Batman smelling, the Joker and the Batmobile. I won’t even tell you about “Winter Wonderland”. Another standard carol that failed to remain untarnished was “We Three Kings”. I really remember getting reamed and creamed by Teach on this one:
We Three Kings of Orient are,
Smoking on a rubber cigar;
It was loaded, and exploded—
—POW!—
We two Kings of Orient are…
Don’t be too appalled. I bet you sang it too. Continue reading »
The Christmas Story
15 Wednesday Dec 2010
This is a re-post from an earlier Christmas—
Its message is THAT important…
“The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters (The New Testament epistles) is that to us it is primarily a performance; to them it was a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether. They do not hesitate describing this as Christ “living in” them. These early Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through Christ, literal sons of God; they were pioneers of a new humanity, founders of a new Kingdom. They still speak to us across the centuries. Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we might achieve what they achieved.”
J.B. Phillips
Letters To Young Churches
“Do not forget the meaning of the Incarnation. It was the invasion of human history by One who snatched the scepter from the usurper. It was the intrusion of forces into human history which dissolved the consistency of the works of the devil and caused them to break and fail. Incarnation was the coming of the Stronger than the strong man armed to destroy the works of the devil…”
G. Campbell Morgan
“Jesus’ incarnation was much more than just a kind visit from the Creator. It was the launching of God’s full and final counteroffensive against all the sin, death and destruction that had entered the world when Adam fell.”
Greg Gilbert
What Is The Gospel?
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed…”
Jesus, 1st Century
“The Kingdom is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened…”
Ibid.
In the fourteenth century King Edward III of England encroached upon France and took the throne he claimed he had a right to, and took back the territory lost to his realm. The year was 1337 and thus began the “100 Year War”… Continue reading »
The Family Christmas Tree
25 Thursday Dec 2008
Posted in Birth of Jesus, Christianity, Christmas
“I AM the Vine, you are the branches…” (John 15:5)
“Christmas is not about being with people you like. Christmas is about being with family!”
–Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, Home Improvement
I love the family the Lord has put me in. In fact, I like my family (most of them). And I think most of them like me. Unfortunately, like many of you, I have family scattered all over so occasions like Christmas are nigh unto impossible to get us all together. But this year…this year…I’m thinking differently. For the first time in, like, ever, I am going to enjoy the whole family tree under one roof, at one time, together and intimate.
And here’s how I’m going to do it. One word: genealogies.
The story of Christmas is familial. The two gospelers that leave us with the record of Christ’s birth also include His family tree. Matthew’s gospel shows us the line of Christ giving Him legal right to the Throne of David through his earthly father Joseph. Luke’s genealogical record solves the sticky case of a cursed bloodline by showing Christ as also coming through the untainted lineage of Mary. Long story short, if Christ had only come through Joseph’s line, He could not have sat on the Throne with Divine favor–even though it gave Him legal right to it–because of a ‘little’ problem back there with Jehoiachin (see Jeremiah 22:24-30 and Matthew 1:11,12).
God “got around” this pothole by birthing His only begotten Messiah Son through a virgin who also came through the lineage of David. Here stands Yeshua Hamashiach, with legal and Divine rights to the everlasting throne. A king (Jehoiachin/Jeconiah/Coniah) almost messed up the Christmas ‘Tree’ but a virgin sealed the deal!
Which brings me to my Tree. Continue reading »
‘Twas The Night Before Christmas (In Legalese)
16 Tuesday Dec 2008
Whereas, on or about the night prior to Christmas, there did occur at a
certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter “the House”) a
general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse.
certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter “the House”) a
general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse.
A variety of foot apparel, e.g. stocking, socks, etc., had been affixed
by and around the chimney in said House in the hope and/or belief that
St.Nick a/k/a St. Nicholas a/k/a Santa Claus (hereinafter “Claus”) would arrive
at some time thereafter.
by and around the chimney in said House in the hope and/or belief that
St.Nick a/k/a St. Nicholas a/k/a Santa Claus (hereinafter “Claus”) would arrive
at some time thereafter.
The minor residents, i.e. the children, of the aforementioned House,
were located in their individual beds and were engaged in nocturnal
hallucinations, i.e. dreams, wherein vision of confectionery treats,
including, but not limited to, candies, nuts and/or sugar plums, did
dance, cavort and otherwise appear in said dreams.
were located in their individual beds and were engaged in nocturnal
hallucinations, i.e. dreams, wherein vision of confectionery treats,
including, but not limited to, candies, nuts and/or sugar plums, did
dance, cavort and otherwise appear in said dreams.
Whereupon the party of the first part (sometimes hereinafter referred to
as “I”), being the joint-owner in fee simple of the House with the parts
of the second part (hereinafter “Mamma”), and said Mamma had retired
for a sustained period of sleep. (At such time, the parties were clad in
various forms of headgear, e.g. kerchief and cap.)
as “I”), being the joint-owner in fee simple of the House with the parts
of the second part (hereinafter “Mamma”), and said Mamma had retired
for a sustained period of sleep. (At such time, the parties were clad in
various forms of headgear, e.g. kerchief and cap.)
Suddenly, and without prior notice or warning, there did occur upon the
unimproved real property adjacent and appurtenant to said House, i.e. the
lawn, a certain disruption of unknown nature, cause and/or circumstance.
The party of the first part did immediately rush to a window in the
House to investigate the cause of such disturbance.
unimproved real property adjacent and appurtenant to said House, i.e. the
lawn, a certain disruption of unknown nature, cause and/or circumstance.
The party of the first part did immediately rush to a window in the
House to investigate the cause of such disturbance.
At that time, the party of the first part did observe, with some degree
of wonder and/or disbelief, a miniature sleigh (hereinafter the
“Vehicle”) being pulled and/or drawn very rapidly through the air by approximately
eight (8) reindeer. The driver of the Vehicle appeared to be and in fact was, the previously referenced Claus.
Said Claus was providing specific direction, instruction and guidance
to the approximately eight (8) reindeer and specifically identified the animal
co-conspirators by name: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid,
Donner and Blitzen (hereinafter the “Deer”). (Upon information and belief,
it is further asserted that an additional co-conspirator named “Rudolph” may have been involved.)
The party of the first part witnessed Claus, the Vehicle and the Deer
intentionally and willfully trespass upon the roofs of several residences
located adjacent to and in the vicinity of the House, and noted that the
Vehicle was heavily laden with packages, toys and other items of unknown origin or nature.
Suddenly, without prior invitation or permission, either express or
implied, the Vehicle arrived at the House, and Claus entered said House
via the chimney. Said Claus was clad in a red fur suit, which was
partially covered with residue from the chimney, and he carried a large
sack containing a portion of the aforementioned packages, toys, and other unknown items.
He was smoking what appeared to be tobacco in a small pipe in blatant
violation of local ordinances and health regulations. Claus did not
speak, but immediately began to fill the stocking of the minor children,
which hung adjacent to the chimney, with toys and other small gifts.
(Said items did not, however, constitute “gifts” to said minor pursuant
to the applicable provisions of the U.S Tax Code.)
Upon completion of such task, Claus touched the side of his nose and
flew, rose and/or ascended up the chimney of the House to the roof where
the Vehicle and Deer waited and/or served as “lookouts.” Claus
immediately departed for an unknown destination.
However, prior to the departure of the Vehicle, Deer and Claus from said
House, the party of the first part did hear Claus state and/or exclaim:
“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”
Or words to that effect.
Just A Reminder
16 Tuesday Dec 2008
Posted in Christmas
Translation: 10 days to buy me something nice…
About Those Men Of Yours…
25 Sunday Mar 2007
Posted in Christmas, Church History, Discipleship, Jesus Christ, Ministry
What if it had been man’s job to choose the disciples…
To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter’s Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922
From: Jordan Management Consultants
Dear Sir:
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.
The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.
As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.
It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.
We wish you every success in your new venture.
Sincerely,
Jordan Management Consultants
Behind Enemy Lines: The Christmas Story
25 Monday Dec 2006
Posted in Christianity, Christmas, Church History, Jesus Christ, Reign of Christ
“The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters (The New Testament epistles) is that to us it is primarily a performance; to them it was a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether. They do not hesitate describing this as Christ “living in” them. These early Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through Christ, literal sons of God; they were pioneers of a new humanity, founders of a new Kingdom. They still speak to us across the centuries. Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we might achieve what they achieved.”
J.B. Phillips
Letters To Young Churches
“Do not forget the meaning of the Incarnation. It was the invasion of human history by One who snatched the scepter from the usurper. It was the intrusion of forces into human history which dissolved the consistency of the works of the devil and caused them to break and fail. Incarnation was the coming of the Stronger than the strong man armed to destroy the works of the devil…”
G. Campbell Morgan
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed…”
(Jesus, 1st Century)
“The Kingdom is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened…”
(Ibid.)
In the fourteenth century King Edward III of England encroached upon France and took the throne he claimed he had a right to, and took back the territory lost to his realm. The year was 1337 and thus began the “100 Year War”…
If the incarnation tells us anything, it says that we have and serve a Universal King, the rightful King, who has come to earth to destroy the works and dominion of the devil and to
place His rule in the hearts of all who will submit to His reign. His coming and subsequent victory at the Cross and Tomb put an end in the heavenlies to the four thousand year war that had been waged in the Garden of Genesis.
But we’ve emasculated the Christmas Story! We’ve come to think of it solely in terms of cattle gently lowing, donkeys braying contentedly, sheep dozing peacefully beside a halo-shrouded crib, shepherds hushed and admiring, a sleepy little village, twinkling lights, sugarplums and gingerbread houses—a veritable homespun, down-home, Smoky Mountain snow globe scene!
Don’t think me heartless. I love the Frank Capra, Walton Mountain, Bing Crosby and Frosty side of Christmas as much as the next guy and possibly more, but that stuff is best kept separated from what Advent represents. Let’s not hear the Christmas Story and think of it in trite sayings like “God come to earth” or a Child born in Bethlehem or a Baby lying in a manger, as if that were all there was to it.
Think of it as an invasion.
An INCARNATION, yes, but also an INVASION most certainly! Heaven’s Darling has come to an earth that lies in the power of the evil one and has been accompanied by a host of the angelic army; He has come behind enemy lines to take His rightful place in hearts and to free those enslaved in darkness.
Can you imagine the devilish glee at the incarnation? Can you just hear the deep-throated mirth of the wicked one as he looks upon an outcast Baby born to humble parentage, laid in straw and draped in rags, as he says with side-splitting laughter toward the heavens, “Is that the best You can do?” He must have thought smugly to himself, “This is going to be even easier than I thought!”
But the scene in that feeding-trough is not one of dismay, embarrasment or backing down to the challenge. The scene in Bethlehem may as well have been a meeting of the Top Brass, the Joint Chiefs, in the Situation Room plotting strategy for the sure destruction of the enemy once and for all. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all present with the mighty hosts of Heaven—an angelic army of superheroes mustering overhead—but the latter are only for show. In fact, they come to sing, not make war! The devil will be felled by a Baby!
As the camera pans on the Divine Visitation we find a curious development. Amid the circle of the Godhead are a handful of humble patrons. They are each witnesses of the Glory because the Lord has found an “amen” in their hearts. People like Joseph. And Mary. The unlikely shepherd-evangelists. These are the special forces God has inserted into enemy territory, and any day now, the supply caravan will be arriving with more than enough to commence the aggression.
“Sweet Little Jesus Boy”??? Hardly. That sentiment does no justice to the Advent of the Christ-King. To the enemy there was nothing sweet about it. It was nothing short of the Godhead taking off their gloves and slapping the devil on his cheek, challenging him to a duel to the death!
1 John 3:8 says—
“The Son of God appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil.”
John Piper spoke to this truth:
“The only people who understand Christmas and embrace Christmas for what it is are people who feel sick and who desperately want their sickness destroyed. Unless you welcome Jesus as a Destroyer in your life, you can’t have Him as a Savior. Christmas is God’s invasion of enemy territory to rescue a people from the devil and destroy the sin in their lives.”
We cannot have Him as Savior all the while rejecting Him as Lord and Conqueror. The angels’ announcement to those gritty shepherds abiding in the fields watching over the flocks earmarked for Passover sacrifice was one of a King’s Visitation. A King unlike any other:
“This day, in the City of David, a Savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.”
(Luke 2:11)
That’s the only time in the New Testament this title is used exactly this way. For Jews, to pronounce The Name (“YHWH”) was against their Law, so when public reading of the Jewish Scriptures took place, whenever the speaker came to the sacred name of God, he would substitute another word, Adonai, and continue on. The word found here in the Greek is ‘kurios’ which is the same as the Hebrew ‘adonai’. Do you see what the angels were declaring? They were giving this Baby the title, “Messiah-Yaweh”! This was not just an important person or another King, but the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.
When Christ came to earth, He brought His Kingdom with Him, then made Himself the Ransom by which to purchase it. He is the nobleman of Luke 19:12 who goes off to a far country to procure a Kingdom for Himself and tells His servants to “occupy ’til I come.”
After an invasion comes an occupation! When the shepherds were given the “rhema” of the Incarnation (translated “thing” in Luke 2:15), they went everywhere telling the news, spreading the occupation. After the Magi saw Him, they returned to Arabia and Persia, extending the occupation. Mary and Joseph brought God’s Treasure to Jerusalem eight days later to be presented in the Temple as their Firstborn and touched off the beginnings of a Divine occupation in the capital city.
Fast forward just a bit and follow the Advent family as they travel to Egypt flexing the borders of Christ’s realm even further. When they returned to their homeland, ‘rhema’ put them in Nazareth, so the ripples of His reign continued to expand. Thereafter, the chosen couple took the Christ Child to Jerusalem every year for the High Feast Day which gives the vivid illustration of the penetration of the Kingdom, much like the ramming of a door until it falls off its hinges.
A chapter later (Luke 3), Yeshua’s cousin John is seen in this otherworldly occupation as he preaches out in the wilderness to crowds of settlers, soldiers and tax collectors, setting forth the terms of occupation: repentance and faith. Thus the realm is spreading everywhere, in every hamlet, the subject of every dinner conversation, in the palace of Herod, the Roman armories and among the teeming throngs in the commercial districts…
ALL THIS WAS DONE BEHIND ENEMY LINES. Right under the devil’s nose. In his own backyard. And there was nothing he could do to stop it! At Golgotha, the Man Jesus walked right into the devil’s living room, through the front door (the gates of hell), overpowered the strongman, and took his booty—those bound in darkness—and led them out of their imprisonment (see Matthew 12:29-ff).
Luke’s narrative of Advent begins with the most powerful man on earth–Caesar–and ends with a humble couple spending the night in a barn, not to mention vile, ignorant, earthy shepherds looking on in wonderment as witnesses of the Divine Visitation. Men whose character was so suspect they would not have been allowed to testify in court, yet God chose them as His witnesses!
What are the odds this thing could ever by pulled off? I’d say pretty good, considering it was a Baby who was the enemy’s undoing! A baby, by the way, who launched His invasion by toddling right into the enemy’s camp.
“Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace among (Greek, “in”) men with whom God is pleased.”
(Luke 2:14)
Merry Christmas!
Peace to you in Christ!
Jingles And Carols
23 Saturday Dec 2006
Posted in Birth of Jesus, Christmas
Ever since the night sky over Jerusalem served as the grandstands for a fantastical choir of angels two thousand years ago, music has been the grandest harbinger of the Advent season. Peace on earth, good
will to all men and a host of heavenly jingles besides!
The music of the season has a special interest for me. I knew that I loved a beautiful college coed named Sandy Summerford while our college’s combined choirs were practicing for the annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah in December of 1982. Loved her enough, that is, to cut bait with another beautiful coed I had been dating: her roommate, no less, but that’s another story for another time (and if Sandy lets me tell it). Sometime between “hallelujahs” I discovered that she was the one for me and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I got the girl, as they say, and we are still going strong twenty-three years later.
Neither Sandy or I are much for carols of the season prior to, say, Thanksgiving, but once the dishes are cleared and the belts are loosened a notch (or two), it’s ‘katy-bar-the-door’ and let the music break forth in all its beauteous delight! Bring on the God Rest Ye’s and the Run Over Grandmas, the Silent Nights and Rudy, the Red-Nosed Reindeers (if you prefer Dean Martin’s rendition). Growing up, the “Muppet Christmas Carol” was a personal favorite, along with Glen Campbell’s “Little Toy Trains, Little Toy Tracks…”
Seems everybody has a Christmas album these days. Sandy and I even heard an interesting ‘carol’ by someone called the “Smashing Pumpkins” just yesterday (can you say, ‘mental anguish’?). Right about now, the Mitchells have the music of the season streaming from the Holiday channel on our Dish TV and piping in from ‘W-Whatever’ on our car stereos. Sandy’s been contentedly humming carols as she festoons our home with holiday mirth and we’re digging out our collection of CDs and loading the carousel in the entertainment system with even more hits of the holidays. Guess you can say the wife and I are suckers for glee and yuletide vocalizations.
All this talk of music makes one wonder about some of our most cherished carols and how they came to be. I am moved, for instance, by the story of what happened in a little house on Brook Street in London circa 1740. George Frederic Handel was a composer who had miserably failed. Swimming in debt, he set to writing what he thought would be his swan song. It quickly turned into an epic musical of God’s redemptive purposes known as “The Messiah.” For three weeks, Handel shut himself inside his room and would not partake in any food and very little sleep. After 24 days, he had written the last note on a 260-page manuscript and when his steward checked on him, found him sobbing in his room, face aglow. He said to the startled visitor, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!” He later told a friend about his three-week experience, “Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I know not.”
“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is not just a cute little song with silly lines. It was actually the “catechism in code” to teach children Bible truths when such things were banned in England while despots reigned there. The “partridge in a pear tree” is in reality, Jesus on the Cross. “Two turtledoves” were the Old and New Testaments and “four calling birds” were the gospels. “Five Golden rings” was the Pentateuch, “six geese a-laying” were the six days of creation, and so on.
And who can sing “Silent Night” without taking that plaintive walk with Pastor Josef Mohr in 1818? His church organ was broken and would not be fixed in time for the Christmas Eve service, so he took a walk to the top of a hill overlooking his sleepy Austrian village to take his burden to the Lord. As he viewed the snow-laden town below in its glorious silence, the Lord met with him and gave him the words to one of the most beloved hymns of the Advent season. The next day, an excited Mohr took his poem to his church organist, Franz Gruber, and asked him to come up with a melody that could be easily strummed on a guitar. The organist had only a few hours to fashion a singable melody, but by that night’s Christmas Eve service the matter was resolved, and the tiny congregation at The Church of St. Nicholas were the first of many to hear and love this peaceful and emotive carol.
There are many other stories but I leave that to you to uncover them. In the meantime, may God bless you and your family in this Advent season and may the music of these most holy days build a fire of warmth and peace at the hearth of your home.
Out of Silence…The Word
12 Tuesday Dec 2006
Posted in Birth of Jesus, Christmas, Prophecy
“May our God come and not keep silence; fire devours before Him, and it is very tempestuous around Him.”
(Psalm 50:3)
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
A neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.
–”Sound of Silence”
by Simon and Garfunkel
In 1970, Michael Viner, a wide-eyed thirty year old entrepreneur, was desperate to make his splash in the music recording industry. He had no backing, no contracts or agent, so he spent his life savings to press several thousand copies of an album he titled, “The Best of Marcel Marceau.”
(some of you caught that)
It was a 35-minute recording of absolute silence interrupted by occasional applause. Newsweek and Billboard magazines picked up the bizarre story and soon mail orders poured in. In the end, Viner’s new-found capital allowed him to seriously pursue the music career he so desired.
In a Baby’s cry, two thousand years earlier, the Word spoke out of silence and the angels applauded. The world in all its silent stillness lay on that very Silent Night, Holy Night as a baby’s coos, giggles and cries hung
on the the frosty night air on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
It didn’t just happen; it was planned. Right down to the very town and time as well as the players involved, including a very shy and innocent virgin. Intricate details, like where this Child would grow up, even where and how He would die. What’s more, it had been planned and scripted for hundreds, yea thousands of years! 332 clues and prophecies to all of these and more are found perfectly preserved in the living pages of the Old Testament.
The gospeler Matthew tells us about His Life through the formulaic saying, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying…” He used this phrase twelve times in his gospel (1:22; 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 26:56 and 27:9 and 35). Twelve. The number of government.
“And the government will rest upon His His shoulders…”
(Isaiah 9:6)
There was more build-up, more family planning to this Baby, the Child Jesus, than any other human that has ever lived. Not for Muhammed. Nor can it be said of Zoroaster or Guatama Buddha. The Savior’s prenatal wasn’t nine months. It was thousands of years! The baby announcements were sent out as far back as in the Garden, when God walked the earth among Adam and Eve.
“He will crush your head and you will strike His heel.”
(Genesis 3:15)
The Lord spoke these words to Lucifer, the one-time cherub, whose name meant ‘star of the morning’. While he served as the guardian of the Throne of God, he was a walking kaleidoscope of color, a prism of light reflecting off the One whom he served. After his fall, however, his name meant far less the light of morning as it did the darkness that surrounds the morning star, reflecting his transformed nature and character. This curse was to assure the anti-God that he may have led Adam and all humanity into sin but he had sealed his own doom as the enemy of God and would incur His wrath forever.
You recall that Jesus was also called the Morning Star but the name given Him speaks of dawn, resurrection and life. Lucifer, the ruler of darkness, faded when the Son rose to greet the new Day!
The Genesis prophecy led a string of over 60 major prophecies with regard to the First Advent of Christ along with those aforementioned 332 minor prophecies that gave details of His life and death. Little details like His vocation. His style of teaching. That gifts would be brought to Him. His hometown. His rejection immediately after he rides into the City on a donkey, welcomed as a Messiah. That He would be betrayed and sold for thirty pieces of silver. Pierced. Crucified. Buried in a rich man’s sarcophagus.
And then, nothing. Silence. It’s like He was the featured front-page article, the headliner, the lead story, then the story gets buried. For 400 years! All was silent. When the Old Testament record closes, nothing more is heard by way of revelation or prophetic voice for four centuries. Heaven’s print shop and messengering service had shut down.
But…
…The Father was waiting. The Son waited. The Holy Spirit waited. All Heaven held its collective breath, knowing the story was not finished. Anticipating. Tuning their harps and lyres. Angelic choirs getting their pipes ready to break forth in beauteous song!
And then…
…A Baby wails and the Word, voluntarily held back, announces He is here and He is the ‘logos’ in FULL VOICE! All the prophecies and all those announcements by the Angel Gabriel to Mary, to Joseph, to the shepherds—these were like the sounds of one clearing one’s throat to get the earth’s attention, to demand that we listen up.
I love the narrative in John 9 which takes place sometime between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Festival of Lights (Hannukah), our Christmastime. The main character is a young fellow born blind but he also suffers from deafness. Oh, I know you won’t find that in the text because it wasn’t physical deafness. His was spiritual. After Jesus restores his sight, the young man is found in the Temple where Jesus again encounters him. With eyes healed, the Son of God now wants to focus on the boy’s heart—by way of his ears.
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Jesus asks him.
“Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in (Greek eis, meaning ‘into’) Him?”
Now notice our Lord’s wonderful, glorious response:
“You have both seen Him, and He is the One talking to you!”
I love that! The Word made flesh was communicating to a single person in a moment when the boy would be hearing Him. Why do I believe that if I were the only lost person on earth that needed saving, that Jesus would STILL have come for me? Because of verse 35:
“Jesus…finding him…said…”
The verb ‘finding him’ is an aorist participle meaning that our Lord, the ‘logos’ of God, labored much in looking for this young man. He had something to TELL him: the good news! And the Savior went to great lengths to make sure He was heard. Give thanks this season that the Word made flesh, crucified, risen and ascended to glory has spoken to you!
Jesus said, “the One who is talking to you is He.” That’s the coolest thing He could have said in that seminal moment. Just think:
- the same One who spoke forth His creation
- the same One who commanded the sun, moon and stars to shine
- the same One who called to Abraham and made from him a chosen people
- the same One who spoke to Job from the whirlwind
- the same One who warned Pharaoh
- the same One who sang over David
- the same One who cried, “It is finished!”
He is the One who has communicated His love to you! And since He is the Word, He is still talking and will go on talking forever. A word for those of you to whom God seems silent: never fear, there is a word forming on the lips of God for you. He who is the Word will not be silent for long.
And a word for you, devil of hell: He who had the First Word also has the Final Word. You, who tried to silence the Baby’s cry, will have the judgment of Almighty God echoing in your ears for all eternity.
We have heard You, Lord, and give thanks for the Word of Life.
“The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard…”
(Luke 2:20)
