12/25/2018
Today is Christmas Day, and all of Christianity is celebrating the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, but on this day, and at this time, we are waiting once again, not for His birth, but for His triumphant return. Yet, in His absence He has sent another... the Holy Spirit. He is our helper, and declares to us the truths that are of our Lord Jesus, and the Holy Father. Have you opened your eyes to Him?
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:7, 14-15 ESV
Jesus said these words after having told His disciples of the coming persecution, and even death, that they would face. He also prophesied that they would be driven from the Synagogues. This is a hard lesson for us to hear on Christmas Day, but it was to this end that Jesus was born. He was always meant to die... not naturally, but at the hands of those He came to save, and who He loved so much. So today we don’t celebrate the birth of a good man, but miraculous birth of the Son of God who came to divide families, and through who’s suffering, death, and resurrection, all sin and death were defeated. We don’t celebrate His life, but rather His sacrifice and death. There have been many many good men born, but only one Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There have been many good men who have died for others, but none who were the perfect sacrifice for all the world. None were unblemished lambs born to shed their redeeming blood.
“For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.”
Matthew 10:35-36 ESV
Now we live in the time of the Holy Spirit who teaches us the truths of Jesus, God, and of the return of our Lord to claim His church... His bride. We know that the dead will leave the ground, and we will then rise to join with them in the sky, and that once we have all been united with Him those who are unbelievers will be cast into the pit. In Jesus we place our faith, and in this rapture we trust and believe! This is our hope, this is our reason for celebration today... not merely that a man named Jesus is born, but that He is born to redeem us, and bring us home to eternity with our Heavenly Father.
“When the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in us, He reveals Him to us in His glory. He takes of the things of Christ and declares them to us with authority. He shows Him to us in personal experience as a personal possession. We partake of Him in our innermost being. All the true, living knowledge we have of Christ is through the Spirit of God.” - Andrew Murray
So we celebrate the beginning of our redemption and rise to glory in heaven with God. We celebrate the birth of the Christ Child that will separate the chaff from the wheat, wash away all of our sins, purify us, intercede for us before the throne of God, and take us home with Him to eternity. We don’t celebrate Santa Claus the marketing tool, it’s not a few gifts, nor is it how a good man lived his life thousands of years ago... it is what is ongoing today, and it is what the Holy Spirit teaches and prepares us for. We celebrate the beginning of the greatest love story ever conceived, the love of God for His creation, the Love of a child who would become the Lamb of God, and the love of a people for their Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Are your eyes open to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and do you listen to the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth in it to you? Are you lifting up your voice in celebratory prayers and praise to the living Christ as we give thanks for His birth? Are you shouting “Come quickly Lord Jesus!” even as you envision Him in the arms of Mary as the suckling child of God incarnate? As we look back on His birth, let’s keep our eyes turned toward the sky, and our ears keen to the sound of God’s trumpet.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who you sent to redeem us, and to prepare us for eternity with you. Thank you Lord for His obedience to your will that was fueled by love, and for His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension to sit at your right hand. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, our comforter, and for His revelation of the truth that is your Word, and for the insight He gives us into the Gospel and life of Jesus Christ. Help, and strengthen us in our faith Father, and let our hearts remain open to your Holy Spirit until the return of your Son to gather us to Him. Hear me today as I thank you for a child’s birth into this world... your Son, the Lamb of God, the Dove of Peace, my Hope, and the beginning of your promise of redemption to all mankind. Hear me as I shout out Holy, Holy, Holy are you my God almighty who was, and is, and is to come! Hear my voice as I sing Great is my God to whom all Glory comes... now and forevermore. See me as I stand ready to see the clouds part and hear your trumpet sound... in this I have set my hope, and founded my faith. To this end a child was born.
“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:15-16 ESV
Rich Forbes